Politics, culture, and international affairs. Welcome to life in the crater.
Washington D.C.
Joined February 2025
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One of the things I find most boring about most contemporary writers is how often they admit, that like, they've never been yelled at. They've never experienced even a single second of confrontation. How are you going to write a bio for Jensen Huang when your most exciting life experience is graduating with an MA in creative writing
《英伟达之芯》的作者，在采访黄仁勋时，就被黄狠狠训了一顿，难怪他心有余悸，印象深刻。
他在这本书的最后一章，记录了黄的这次发飙：
不知该如何继续话题，我决定向黄仁勋展示阿瑟·克拉克的一段文字，就是这段文字激发了布莱恩·卡坦扎罗热情奔放的演绎。在克拉克滔滔不绝地描述机械进化的前景时，我注意到黄仁勋的脸色渐渐发白，好似面部的血色都被抽走了。
“我觉得你找错采访对象了，”他低声嘀咕，“你现在仿佛在采访埃隆·马斯克，可我不是他。”我愣了一下，不知所措，但反应过来时已经晚了。我显然触碰到了他的敏感点。
“机械进化会……会毁掉工作机会吗？”黄仁勋越来越气愤，声音也不由自主地提高。“难道计算器的出现就毁灭了数学吗？这种问题真是老掉牙了，我听得耳朵都生茧了，”他抱怨道，“我不想再谈这个话题了！同样的问题，反复讨论，没完没了。想想看，我们发明了农业，让生产食物的边际成本几乎归零，这对社会难道不是好事吗？我们大规模生产电力，使砍伐树木、生火、携带火把的成本几乎为零，然后我们就可以腾出手去做更多其他的事情了。紧接着，我们会去降低计算的边际成本——长除法！我们将其降至零！”他的嗓门开始提高：“我们一直在努力将各种事物的边际成本降为零，一代一代又一代，而这样的争论每次都会上演！”
我尝试转移话题，但未能如愿。他的话语中流露出愤怒与厌恶。他开始以对待叛逆少年的口吻训斥我。他坦言，曾对我抱有厚望，如今却大失所望。我耗费了他的时间，也浪费了大家的时间；现在，整本书的策划都受到了质疑。当时采访现场有黄仁勋的两位公关代表，但他们均未尝试介入——显然不想引火烧身。
柯克猜测，黄仁勋的愤怒可能是策略性的表现。但说实话，我当时并未感受到这一点。他的愤怒显得肆无忌惮、铺天盖地，甚至太不合时宜了。我并非黄仁勋的员工，他对我发火并无任何益处。针对自己所创建工具的负面问题，他简直烦透了。他认为这个问题十分愚蠢，且已被反复问及太多次了。
“这绝非荒谬的科幻故事，”他说着，指向桌子另一头两位目瞪口呆的公关代表，“你们懂吗？我并非在诸多科幻故事的熏陶下长大，这可不是什么科幻片。这些人在做的是严肃的工作！”他继续说道：“这不是闹着玩的！这跟克拉克毫无关系，我压根儿没读过他的破书，也毫不在意那些书！这不是——我们不是在重演科幻剧！这家公司绝非《星际迷航》的翻版！我们做的可不是那种事！我们是认真的人，做认真的工作。再者，这是一家认真的公司，我是个认真的人，只是做着认真的工作。”
接下来的20分钟，黄仁勋以责备、恼怒与轻蔑交替的语气，质疑我的专业精神、采访方式，以及对项目的投入程度。他指责我企图对他进行精神分析，表示他多么反感回答我的传记作者式问题，尤其是那些试图挖掘他心理状态的问题。“我讨厌这些刨根问底的问题，”他说，“我不喜欢谈论自己，好吗？！我不是在做心理治疗。”他暗示我的问题很愚蠢，形容它们“乏味至极”。他否认自己有任何特别之处，尽管有悖所有的证据。“听着，我——我极其普通。”他说。
“我从未见过像你这样的人。”我说。
“我极其普通。”黄仁勋说。
慢慢地，愤怒平息了。黄仁勋数次转移话题，聊起即将推出的产品，询问他的公关代表状况，并缅怀已故的约翰·尼科尔斯对CUDA项目发挥的重要作用。在某个时刻，他谈起了罗马帝国。接着，他又轻声地责备起我来，显然，他对我已经失去了兴趣。于是，我被匆匆地请出了门。离开采访现场时，我感到十分困惑。虽然我与高管们有过不少紧张的对话，但从未有人像这样对我发火。我深感震惊——不过，说实话，我也感到一丝莫名的兴奋。能成为黄仁勋愤怒的对象，从某种意义上说，竟也算是一种荣幸：这是每个进入他核心圈子的人都必须经历的考验。走出会议室时，我转向其中一位公关人员。
“这次还挺有意思的。”我说道。
他笑了笑，回应道：“哦，是吗？这还不算什么呢。”
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The problem with every single person with left populist instincts (except me) is they don't know anything about inflation or wealth creation or the economy. We should be making big populists bipartisan reforms. A safe big reform looks like student loan forgiveness. A bad big reform is a $30 minimum wage.
And of course, essential to any of this, is the righteous destruction of social security.
Now that MAGA has gone the way of the Tea Party, I propose a new program: National healthcare, a $30 minimum wage, streets so safe a woman could sleep on any sidewalk in any city, and immigration so strict that when you meet an immigrant, you want to thank them for their service.
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You also have to understand that in this film
1. Scrooge goes to a church and we actually hear part of a sermon
2. There are multiple religious references not in the book or any other film
3. There is a full rendition of silent night in the center of the film
And yet it doesn't feel like a pathetic attempt to do right wing art. It's just sort of conservative, and arrives at conservative conclusions naturally. Also really pro-business? Like they were explicitly trying to avoid a Marx-ish Scrooge (2019 Scrooge was this).
This is probably the most Christian and religous Scrooge, and the most horrific, and tender, we've ever gotten. Also, though, very character driven and expansive and creative.
There's also alot in this film, which has a slow camera, stage cards, and opening credits and practical effects which feel very dated and nostalgic. It sort of goes against the contemporary rules of successful filmmaking and is very much an anti-slop movie. It's much more patient.
Film updates not promoting this movie because it's an Amber Heard supporter account and then it's still a success is making me laugh so hard
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I did not expect this, but Ebenezer was actually a very good and also surprisingly conservative, Christian film, which managed real tender moments despite doubling down on the horror elements. Ti West did a wonderful job, the camerawork was engaging, and effects were beautiful and often practical. Depp still has the charisma that makes his Scrooge work and as someone who grew up with Depp on screen I'm so glad to see him back.
Might do a full review.
4/5. Best Scrooge adaption. Crypto conservative Ebenezer is a great watch this winter. Totally underrated gem that will be panned by the critics because of Depp's trial, the kangaroo-shaped shadow of which lingers over the film. This feels like a fuck you to Hollywood in many ways: a beautiful middle finger to cancel culture, packed in an unashamedly pro-business, pro-redemption, tale of love and friendship. Grint being in a supporting role (the only one of the magic three to not totally throw Rowling under the bus) only reinforces this.
Donald Trump has read the joy of losing
This is the way (not what I envisioned, but still very good)
Namaste 🙏🏻
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"That's none of my business, that's your business."
It's like they actively want to the party to die
On the receiving end of some pretty wild verbal abuse for these comments simply acknowledging affordability IS an issue for many Americans, and buying a home IS harder for younger Americans than it used to be.
Socialism isn’t the answer. But if Republicans keep denying that these issues are real, they will keep losing… particularly with younger voters.
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My family were immigrants to Montana from Transylvania, and I have to say:
There was no welfare, there were barely cities, there was barely running water, and, but for a few lucrative industries, no economy. And we all assimilated and learned English and married into American families (miraculously, only becoming Mormon in the late 20th century).
New immigrants come to cities already built and economies already constructed. They are explicitly told assimilation is bad, do not convert or anglicize, retain distant family connections (digital technologies are a huge reason assimilation stopped), receive welfare, and often benefit from DEI regimes that punish the people that built and settled Montana.
The only relic of Montana's history as a migrant destination is the pub and beer culture (17 breweries in my hometown valley). There's not a German mafia stealing billions through Medicaid fraud.
This anti-immigrant claptrap is exactly what Carl's intellectual forebears said about the Irish, the Italians, the Jews, the Portuguese, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Mexicans, and every other ethnic group as they came.
They were wrong about his ancestors, and he's wrong now.
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Not to mention, the simply higher average IQ of prior waves of immigrants, the lower level of consanguinity, industriousness of the German population, as well as work ethic. New immigrants are largely from backwards cultures of poor human capital with huge incest rates, no historical work culture, little industriousness. And of course low trust.
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The weirdest thing about this is that I haven't actually seen a single republican express frustration over this loss or Colom and most people seem to get why he won.
This is playing pretend for Hicklibs, and is genuinely more grotesque than anything any R has done
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The White House has to learn from the Biden administration and understand that their response to changing sentiments *cannot* be touting their accomplishments. Biden tried this. Remember the whole drama of their social media teams advertising their accomplishments?
Trump Administration Delivers Record-Setting Results Through Executive Action whitehouse.gov/releases/2026…
You have to change the topic. You cannot win this argument. This is a passive response. You need an aggressive one.
The much better strategy is to do big popular deals and negotiations, and force the dems to hold those deals hostage. Force them to stop you from doing loan forgiveness etc. Rip affordability back to the right.
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Realistically I think this is a fair statistical representation of low regret, the issue is that no one who has made this choice would ever *allow themselves* to feel regret.
This quoted post is unavailable.
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My uncle is the kind of guy who would vote for him and he lives in Provo. There is absolutely no way for the right to reach him because he is not on X and does not watch Fox or use YouTube.
He is white small business owner with left libertarian leanings.
We have no way to reach him in the current right wing media environment. Just absolutely no way. But we have to.
This new state legislator in Utah has ties to antifa and until recently was in a groupchat where they were planning political assassinations and discussing the benefits of murdering the children of capitalists.
Instead of warning citizens, Utah media gives him this aw shucks feature on the evening news where they act like he’s just this wholesome kid who wants to give out school lunches.
Re-upping this essay, Pre-Politics: Before Left and Right, in light of Houellebecq's trial.
"If the centralization of power is the pre-political requirement for an autocracy to function, what is the most foundational pre-political question for our system of government, a democracy?"
meteorwriting.com/post/pre-p…
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75% of the fertility decline since 2007 is attributable to fewer people being married at each age. Essentially the same for the United States. The fertility crisis masks a marriage problem, which is also, actually a downstream effect of civil rights legislation, the pill, and the rising hatred of men.
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You are making the critical mistake of thinking they intend to govern and not simply engineer permanent one party rule for their own benefit.
The good news: Democrats are now one presidential win from getting to govern.
The bad news: Their top 3 economic goals may be incompatible with each other.
To prepare a viable governing agenda, the party must grapple with the tensions between its aims
vox.com/politics/510291/demo…
Arjun is an unemployed illegal immigrant taking advantage of an absurd O-1 visa rule to do inconistent contract writing for immigration advocates (American Immigrant Investor Alliance) to lobby the right to do amnesty (tho, I am not sure he is even employed right now). His writing is terrible, he only gets work because he's willing to write about amnesty on the right.
Why do we have writers on O-1 visas? Are there no American Writers? @StateDept
This is a once-in-a-generation chance to get a big immigration deal, including amnesty. @SenateDems have a large majority to cover most filibuster votes. Just need 4 GOP. Trump is open to deal because he cares about legacy and no longer needs his nationalist populist base.
We do need deals, but not amnesty deals. There's alot of better ideas on the table worth the White House's time and attention. If I were Miller I would get Trump a meeting with Colom and Fetterman.
Spitballing a hypothetical.
Republicans - would you be open to an immigration deal that would legalize Dreamers & give protections to longtime illegal immigrants w/ no criminal record if they came forward & paid a fee/back taxes in exchange national voter ID requirements, a nationwide federal ban on sanctuary cities (ICE detainers must be honored at jails for criminal aliens) and a strict overhaul on the asylum system to prevent fraudulent claims overwhelming the system?
Would Dems have any appetite for such a deal?
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