2025-03-21

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• The Professional-Managerial Class Has No Future

  There is an absurdity to the results – parents queueing up for private kindergartens so their children may fingerpaint in prestigious company, high school kids earnestly talking up the fashionable nonprofit they founded with parental funding, eight year olds diligently practicing dressage so that they may study at the best institutions. But zoom out and the picture is a grim one. The professional-managerial class has no reliable means of reproducing itself without being taxed by these institutions, and however high the toll, they must pay. Unlike traditional elites, who could hand down tangible assets or direct pathways to success, the PMC relies on a tenuous bargain with the educational and professional gatekeepers who hold their children's futures hostage. This is not merely a story of cost disease or competitive meritocracy – it is a structural flaw in the PMC's ability to sustain itself across generations. Their dependence on external institutions means that any surplus they earn through their high-paying jobs is gradually siphoned off by the very systems they rely on to maintain their class position. The result is a class that, despite its high incomes and social prestige, is fundamentally unsustainable. Without the ability to directly pass down their status, and with institutions continuously raising the price of admission, the professional-managerial class finds itself locked in a cycle where each generation must start from scratch – until, inevitably, the system consumes more than the class can produce.

  One might argue that this system is a positive development – that wealth should not buy privilege and that a meritocracy ensures the most capable rise to the top. But the current arrangement does not reflect a functional meritocracy. A true meritocracy, like a wartime military or a rapidly expanding industry, seeks to identify and deploy talent quickly and efficiently. Our current system does the opposite – it draws out the process, layering on more obstacles and costs, not to identify talent but to extract wealth while certifying it. The gatekeeping institutions have no incentive to streamline the path to success; their interest lies in extending it, ensuring that both parents and children continue to pay into the system for as long as possible. Rather than elevate talented but less privileged students, it subjects them to the same protracted, expensive climb.

• Scientists Trapped in Antarctica Plead for Help as Violence Breaks Out

• Segway recalls 220k scooters after mechanical glitch injures 20

Horseshit

• UBS Client Says His Wife Moved in with Their Wealth Adviser. It Got Messy

• Tech Goes Hardcore: Companies Push Employees to Embrace Intensity

• 'More Than a Hint' That Dark Energy Isn't What Astronomers Thought

• Cats teach us Humility: Feline therapy: Study suggests cats could fill an assistive niche

• The MetroCard Goes the Way of the Token as MTA Announces End of Sales

• For teens' mental health, strong friendships matter more than social media use

• Classic Smashed Burgers Recipe

  • "Steak 'n Shake" not mentioned, for some mysterious reason.

• From Cabaret to Trump rallies, why does audience laughter feel so sinister?

Obit

• Jeffrey Bruce Klein, a Founder and Editor of Mother Jones, Dies at 77

Rank Propaganda / Thought Policing / World Disordering

• ADHD misinformation on TikTok is shaping young adults' perceptions

  • "Major Media is supposed to do that!"

• Anti-Israel and anti-Jewish bias undermines Wikipedia's neutrality, says ADL

Musk

• Tesla to recall more than 46,000 Cybertrucks due to exterior panel issue

  • Tesla Recalls Just About Every Cybertruck as Decorative Steel Falls Off

  • Tesla Recalls Every Single Cybertruck over Stainless Steel Trims Falling Off

  • Tesla Recalls Most Cybertrucks

  • Tesla recalls most Cybertrucks due to trim detaching from vehicle

  • In latest blow to Tesla, regulators recall nearly all Cybertrucks

  • Nearly All Cybertrucks Have Been Recalled Because Tesla Used the Wrong Glue

• Tesla backer says Musk must reduce Trump work, as 46,000 Cybertrucks recalled

  • Can Tesla pay Musk yet?

• Tesla's challenges run deeper than controversy around Musk

• Vivian Jenna Wilson (Musk's Estranged Daughter) Interviewed in Teen Vogue

• Rogue Soros-Funded NGO Plots Multi-City Assault On Tesla As Domestic Terrorism Escalates | ZeroHedge

• The Canadian roots of Elon Musk's conspiracist grandpa

• The used Tesla market is crumbling

Electric / Self Driving cars

• BYD's 5-minute charge: is time running out for electric-vehicle rivals?

Religion / Tribal / Culture War and Re-Segregation

• Ben and Jerry's claim CEO sacked by Unilever over social activism

• Climate change ‘can teach schoolchildren about race.’

  One aspect of the trust’s recommendations is thought to be aimed at encouraging teachers to throw light on the unequal impact of climate change on different groups in society, such as in developing countries. Its recommendation states: “Subjects such as English and history, as well as discussions of climate change in science, should offer students the opportunity to explore conversations surrounding race and its relationship to wider society, as opposed to stifling students and teachers in the expression of opinion surrounding these themes.”

• There's a church in Mexico where Coca-Cola is used in religious ceremonies

• Christianity Was “Borderline Illegal” in Silicon Valley. Now It’s the New Religion | Vanity Fair

  Believers like Garry Tan are flipping the script in the venture capital world, making faith matter just as much as the ability to turn a fortune. Says one entrepreneur, “There are people that are leveraging Christianity to get closer to Peter Thiel.”

Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts

• Pro-Hamas Columbia prof linked to millions in NIH funding.

• Schools spending billions on tech caused worsening social skills and test scores

Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising

• GitHub Actions are a mess.

• Apple TV+ is losing $1B every year, per report

  • Apple losing over $1B a year on streaming service

• HTTPS-only for Cloudflare APIs: shutting the door on cleartext traffic

  Today we’re announcing that we’re closing all of the HTTP ports on api.cloudflare.com. We’re also making changes so that api.cloudflare.com can change IP addresses dynamically, in line with on-going efforts to decouple names from IP addresses, and reliably managing addresses in our authoritative DNS. This will enhance the agility and flexibility of our API endpoint management. Customers relying on static IP addresses for our API endpoints will be notified in advance to prevent any potential availability issues. In addition to taking this first step to secure Cloudflare API traffic, we’ll release the ability for customers to opt-in to safely disabling all HTTP port traffic for their websites on Cloudflare. We expect to make this free security feature available in the last quarter of 2025.

• Discord heightens ad focus by introducing video ads to mobile apps in June

TechSuck / Geek Bait

• Emacs' first public release was 40 years ago today, 20 March 1985

AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World

• Apple Shakes Up AI Executive Ranks in Bid to Turn Around Siri

• The Scale of AI's Pirated-Books Problem

Space / Boomy Zoomers / UFO

• US Space Force warns Chinese satellites are 'dogfighting' in space

• NASA Eyes Plan to Get Boeing Back on Track as SpaceX Alternative.

  • Boeing's Starliner future uncertain as NASA weighs next steps

• Satellite operators want better space weather models – SpaceNews

Crypto con games

• A Livestreamed Tragedy on X Sparks a Memecoin Frenzy

Economicon / Business / Finance

• SoftBank Seals $6.5B Deal for Chip Designer Ampere

  • SoftBank to Acquire Ampere for $6.5B in Cash

  • SoftBank expands AI portfolio with $6.5B Ampere deal

• Nvidia to spend billions on US supply chain, says chief

• Home Sellers and Buyers Accuse Realtors of Blocking Lower Fees

• There Are Two Kinds of Credit Cards

  Over the past few decades, the credit-card market has quietly transformed into two credit-card markets: one offering generous benefits to wealthy Americans, the other offering expensive debt to the poor, with the latter subsidizing the former. While balances are compounding at the highest average APR in decades, a brutal 21.5 percent, the haves are not just pulling away from the have-nots. The people swiping their cards to pay for food and gas are also paying for wealthy cardholders’ upgrades to business class.

• Boeing blamed for whistleblower's death in new lawsuit

• Debate over H-1B visas shines spotlight on US tech worker shortages

• Realtor.com Reports Active Inventory Up 28.5% YoY

• Fed Leaves Rates Unchanged

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

• CIA Covert Ops: Kennedy Assassination Records Lift Veil of Secrecy

• Inside The Now-Shuttered Federal Agency Where Employees Lived ‘Like Reigning Kings’

  One of the seven small federal agencies that President Donald Trump ordered downsized or eliminated on Friday was rife with corruption, with its employees hiring friends and relatives, commissioning paintings of themselves, and using government credit cards to indulge in constant luxuries. The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) occupied a nine-story office tower on D.C.’s K Street for only 60 employees, many of whom actually worked from home, prior to the pandemic. Its managers had luxury suites with full bathrooms; one manager would often be “in the shower” when she was needed, while another used her bathroom as a cigarette lounge. FMCS recorded its director as being on a years-long business trip to D.C. so he could have all of his meals and living expenses covered by taxpayers, simply for showing up to the office.

• Honking Complaints Plunge 69% Inside Congestion Pricing Zone

Trump

• How 'judge shopping' shapes legal battles over Donald Trump's federal policies | Fox News

  The onslaught of legal challenges to President Donald Trump's early actions brought by federal workers and advocacy groups have found their way into mostly friendly courts, overseen, for the most part, by sympathetic judges. These plaintiffs have employed a well-known, pervasive strategy used by both sides of the political aisle, known as forum or "judge shopping"– that is, to have a case tried in a certain district court, and one that falls under the jurisdiction of a U.S. appeals court with a certain political makeup.

• President signs executive order to dismantle Department of Education

Democrats

• Meet Harry Sisson, the Biden-Loving Feminist Influencer Outed as 'Possibly Not Gay' After Multiple Women Accused Him of Being a Sex Creep

  In case you missed it, which you probably did, here's what happened: An effeminate TikTok influencer, semi-renowned for his obsequious fawning over former president Joe Biden, was apparently outed as heterosexual after multiple female women accused him of being a lying pervert. His name is Harry Sisson, and he's a 23-year-old social media user who posts professionally (and obnoxiously) about politics. He's been profiled by numerous mainstream outlets, including NBC News, Vanity Fair, and Semafor. He campaigned for Kamala Harris, appeared on CNN, filmed a TikTok video with Barack Obama, and met with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) on Capitol Hill earlier this month. He was invited to the White House in 2024, where he met with Biden in the Oval Office and called him "the best president in modern American history." Child advocate Sarah Fields revealed Tuesday that nearly a dozen TikTok-obsessed Gen Z women were accusing Sisson of being a "player" who persuaded them to share explicit photos under false pretenses. At least one of the women has accused him of "grooming a minor."

• Tim Walz: Maga voters are scared of my masculinity

  Tim Walz has claimed that Maga voters are “scared” of his masculinity. The former vice-presidential candidate said Republicans targeted him during the election campaign because they were fearful he would win over male voters. “I think I scare them a little bit, [which is] why they spend so much time on me,” Mr Walz told Gavin Newsom during an episode of the California governor’s new podcast. When Mr Newsom burst into laughter, the Minnesota governor added: “No, I’m serious, because they know I can fix a truck, they know I’m not bulls—ing on this.”

Left Angst

• Judges Fear for Their Safety Amid a Wave of Threats

• Georgetown University researcher detained by immigration authorities

• Musk's Doge Goon Accidentally Triggered Secret Service Alert in White House

• Dead People Database: DOGE deletes names of 3.2M individuals aged 120+

• I'm an American software developer and the "broligarchs" don't speak for me

• DOGE's Dodgy Numbers Employ a Tesla Technique

• An Executive Order issued will eliminate funding for Library Services

• Trump's US Commerce Secretary publicly recommends to buy TSLA

  • Tesla falls after Commerce secretary recommends buying stock

• Canadian Banks as U.S. Hostages?

• American Science Should Take a Lot More Risks

• Europe looks to poach US researchers as Trump cuts funding

• Doge to Fired CISA Staff: Email Us Your Personal Data

• Trump ends internet program for millions in China, worrying some in Congress

• Bird flu continues to spread as pandemic experts are MIA

  The White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy (OPPR)—established by a congressional statute in 2022 in response to failures during the COVID-19 pandemic—used to include a staff of around 20 people. Now, only one staffer remains, and it's unclear who they report to. The OPPR director has been moved to the National Security Council (NSC).

  • As bird flu spreads, administration sidelines key pandemic preparedness office

• RFK Jr. Wants to Let Bird Flu Spread on Poultry Farms. Why Experts Are Concerned

• Tourist in US chained 'like Hannibal Lecter'

• DOGE Shines Most Light Ever in Dark Corners of Government, but Don't Tell Left's Sunshine Week Advocates – PJ Media

• U.S. Turned Away French Scientist over Views on Trump Policies, France Says

• Pentagon restores webpages of Black veterans, Navajo Code Talkers after outcry

• Canada considering charging for road access from USA to Alaska

• Doge Social Security Closures: Recipients Need to Visit Offices to Get Benefits

• Doge official takes leadership role at USAID, that Musk's team helped dismantle

• Accenture Begins to Feel the Trump Crackdown on Consultants

• Britain Issues Travel Warning for US

• NATO on the Brink

• Showdown at Foggy Bottom: DOGE Uses Police to Evict Barricaded Bureaucrats – RedState

  • DOGE plays hardball in U.S. Institute of Peace takeover - The Washington Post

  Following President Donald Trump’s Feb. 19 executive order targeting nonexecutive branch foreign aid and peacemaking agencies for elimination, agents of DOGE, the White House-based organization overseen by Elon Musk, have moved to take over entities both small and large. DOGE, which stands for Department of Government Efficiency, took over the U.S. Institute of Peace on Monday after threatening its officials with criminal prosecution. Its president was removed from its headquarters with the assistance of the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, the FBI and D.C. police.

• Why Trump's Ultimatum to Columbia Could Upend Higher Education

• Officials Believe Order Lets Immigration Agents Enter Homes Without Warrants

• Judge bars Musk's DOGE team from Social Security records in scathing ruling

• How Jeff Bezos Made Peace with Donald Trump

• FCC chairman Brendan Carr starts granting telecom lobby's wish list

External Security / Militaria / Diplomania

• Low-Cost Drone Add-Ons from China Let Anyone Turn Toys into Weapons of War

• European military powers work on 5-10 year plan to replace US in NATO

World

• UK watchdog bans 'shocking' ads in mobile games that objectified women

• Finland Ranks Happiest Again with US at Worst-Ever Level

• Indigenous guides in the Arctic are training Canada's military

• Erdogan Arrests Dozen Over Social Media Posts As Hundreds Of Thousands Protest Imamoglu Arrest | ZeroHedge

  Continuing its remarkable parallels with its "developed" yet fascist European and UK neighbors, where a twitter post is enough to get your house raided and land you in jail, overnight Turkish authorities said they arrested 37 people over social media posts criticizing the contentious detention of Istanbul’s popular mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, which triggered a market meltdown as we described. The suspects made “provocative statements” on social media platforms, Yerlikaya said, accusing them of inciting hatred and provoking people to commit crimes. Cybersecurity forces continue conducting “virtual patrols” around the clock, he said.

  Imamoglu, who is viewed as the main rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in elections scheduled for 2028 was taken into custody early Wednesday, along with dozens of others, on corruption charges. Prosecutors accused Imamoglu, from the secular Republican People’s Party (CHP), of corruption and aiding a terrorist group, calling him a “criminal organization leader suspect”. He denounced the move as politically-motivated just as he was preparing to formally announce his intention to run. Late Wednesday, a local court also ordered the seizure of Imamoglu Insaat Ticaret ve Sanayi AS, the construction company where the mayor is a partner.

• Guatemala scraps plan for compulsory car insurance after protests

• Bridge to Sicily: a strategic project for Italy or a waste of resources?

Israel

• Hebrew wasn't spoken for 2000 years, here’s how it was revived

Russia Bad / Ukraine War

• US 'deletes evidence' of Russia's kidnap of Ukrainian children

China

• China delays approval of BYD's Mexico plant amid fears tech could leak to US

• Ottawa condemns Chinese executions of four Canadians on drug charges | Reuters

Health / Medicine

• Sale of Ozempic Knockoffs Is Supposed to End Soon. Telehealth Companies Unhappy.

• Inside the Shadowy World of the Erectile Dysfunction Pill Black Market

• After 5 Years, FDA Finally Inspected Indian Drug Factory Linked to U.S. Deaths

• Concussions increase the risk of various neuropsychiatric disorders

Pox / COVID / BioTerror AgitProp

• The Bird-Flu Tipping Point

• We've entered a forever war with bird flu

• Mom of child dead from measles: "Don't do the shots," my other 4 kids were fine

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• California regulators want to weaken hazardous waste disposal rules

• Putting solar panels in grazing fields is good for sheep

• Microplastics boost antibiotic resistance in E. coli, lab study suggests

• Jury Orders Greenpeace to Pay Pipeline Company More Than $660M

  • Greenpeace must pay over $660M in case over Dakota Access protest activities

• A contagious, fatal illness in deer, elk and moose has taken hold in the US

• Population may be vastly undercounted, study claims

• Did shale gas green the U.S. economy? - ScienceDirect

  We find that the boom reduced average annual greenhouse gas emissions per capita by roughly 7.5%.

• Beef industry knew of environment impact; spent decades blocking climate action

• An iceberg broke off Antarctica. What scientists found under startled them