I hate this kind of 'controversy' because there's no logical well-defined rule here in the first place. So if you argue about this by definition you're just arguing your own vibes. I can't do that
Jomboy posted old black & white clips of what used to be called check-swings & it was guys basically going like 345-degrees around, it almost broke my brain
But I just can't
The MLB rule book does not define a "swing" or "checked swing." It is 100% the umpire's judgment.
But just about every accepted understanding makes that swing. The barrel of his bat was through the hitting zone -- past parallel to the front of the plate. Had the ball struck the bat it would have gone into fair territory. That's no different than a bunt attempt that isn't pulled back in time.
sonch retweeted
I am upper end Gen X. I sort of remember being told Reagan wouldn't leave office. After that, it's been Bush, Clinton, Bush the Lesser, Obama, Trump first time, Biden, now back Trump who will never leave.
Guy won't leave is part of our political culture now, nothing more.
My friends know my wife is a huge anti-Trumper. She believes firmly that he's gonna seize permanent power and never let go. She knows this in her soul and cannot be dissuaded from the certainty by any argument. I know. I've tried.
Setting aside the fact the man is *old* and has no desire for a third term, I keep coming back to the fact that Trump has become the defining personality of American politics in the 21st century. Doesn't matter if I think he's a showboating showman with no real statesmanship. He towers over Obama, W. Bush, every Senator, every Congressman, every Governor, etc.
Everyone and everything just pings and pongs off the hull of the U.S.S. Trump and it's all reactive politics all the time. Even the DSA—who are Communists cloaked in Millennial metrosexualism—just hurl rotten fruit at this guy. Using him to hype up their growing base. If he did not exist they would have to invent him.
The Orange One is the dragon breathing fire across the American political scene, and the number of jousting pugilists who tilt at the Orange windmill is legion.
He defines who they are. Never the opposite. And I suspect in many ways this is what drives their hate.
Just noticed the Ali G movie was downgraded from wide theater release. I think maybe the Nathan Fielder movie stole its thunder, like, maybe the culture only really has headspace-room for one Guy Like That at a time
This is kind of a bad test case though & a little unfair to dunk on her, cuz almost no one who uses the word can consistently define ‘capitalism’
(largely because, as used in common parlance, it’s not even really a thing)
this is such a wild trend:
100% conviction
0% comprehension
it's a magic word cult.
they do not even understand what the words they are speaking mean.
they think they are magic spells that make people have to agree with them and that silence dissent.
this is the sort of empty headed addle brained identity that emerges from years of cosseted cancel culture.
they argue by assertions they cannot even explain, much less defend.
it can only sustain itself by suppressing debate and discussion.
it disintegrates like sugar sculpture in a thunderstorm when challenged or asked to explain itself.
keep pushing.
this is the fun part.
apparently it’s mafia behavior for a Presidential administration to preemptively pardon people aligned with it politically/tribally that’s good to know I wonder if this will lead to any larger discussion of anything in recent memory
Was on a meeting the other day with a very senior bigshot who wanted to show off the thing he’s been making with AI. Gee I wonder what. You guessed it: some damn fancy dashboard with dropdowns and charts and whatnot
This is a guy who should be flying around having meetings with clients, doing talking-head spots, not vibecoding some dashboard. You can get a junior person to vibecode the dashboard, and along the way, to actually learn what goes in the dashboard.
But the joy, the pride in his voice about it
AI kinda reminds me of the role of steroids in 90s/00s baseball, and in the sense that some people kinda-sorta defended it: hey, you gotta understand, it allowed some older guys to extend their careers, recover from injury faster, etc. Don’t you want a few more years of an effective Roger Clemens? Isn’t it cool that a Rafael Palmeiro could shift to DH?
I think this is why you see a barbell pattern to AI-enthusiasm: early 20s obviously, but also a solid older contingent eager to vibecode anything and everything they can think up (hey I’m no exception)
But the ‘missing middle’ pipeline is gonna be a problem
Obviously that is only one dimension to the immigration-maxx incentive (others: race-tribal lefties who want to Permanently Dilute Whitey; big business R lobbyists/friends who like cheap labor) but without this GDP factor those others could perhaps be resisted
‘GDP growth’ mechanically detects and requires ‘growth’ including population growth, the ‘problem’ of the domestic birthrate cannot be hidden from the numbers and models, and immigration (from wherever - but the more desperate the ‘better’, for obvious econ reasons) ‘solves’ that ‘problem’.
In the near-/mid-term. In models. Because they don’t factor in the actual cost.
one of several tragedies of Trump-47 is that still no one has figured out how to entice Trump away from his instinct toward corrupt Putin-schmoozing & get him fully interested in corrupt Ukraine-schmoozing instead. Grass is so much greener
my guess: there will indeed be within the next few years stunning advances in biology in the sense that drugs or proteins or whatever will be designed to impressive constraints and to narrowly-tailored effects. these will make a lot of money for their equityholders and also when administered to people will have decidedly mixed results, probably helping a small number dramatically, doing little for others, and also causing completely unanticipated negative effects in some from both groups
i've often wondered if Kanye copied stuff from me too
Billy Corgan wonders if Kanye West took inspiration from his approach to fame.
"When I first saw his game, I thought ... was he influenced by the way I did this shit? Because it was the same game. Pick fights, do crazy shit."
consequence.net/2026/10/bill…
