https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/democratic-party-favorability-ratings-low

G. Elliott Morris not freaking out about that WSJ poll.

https://www.wsj.com/economy/trump-tax-cuts-winners-losers-4dbf8fc7?st=ZQNvfn&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink (gift)

«First, some explanations. These charts look only at the law’s tax provisions, not at its reductions to spending on programs such as Medicaid and nutrition assistance, which will tend to affect their lower-income beneficiaries. Tariffs, which weren’t in the law, aren’t part of the calculations. We mostly compare next year’s tax system with what would have happened if Congress had done nothing. This approach most clearly illustrates what lawmakers did, even though they were never likely to let all the tax cuts lapse.»

So. After your “conservative” uncle has raged about his tax burden, all that Sturm und Drang got him a 2-3% change in his after-tax income. He can go roll in his tiny pile of dollars.

Conversely, for a 2-3% bump in taxes (change in post-tax income), we could get 15 million people back on Medicaid, and 5 million more back on SNAP.

(https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2025/jun/how-medicaid-snap-cutbacks-one-big-beautiful-bill-trigger-job-losses-states#:~:text=The%20Congressional%20Budget%20Office%20(CBO,see%20their%20nutrition%20allotments%20reduced.)

Trying to figure out how to write dialogue. Thought I’d go back and read something by a writer I think is good. And I keep getting lost in the narration. Had to read this, like, 3 or 4 times.

«Amélie joined us one afternoon, having completed most of her work securing locations. The woman who out-thinned and out-tanned the rest was there, as she had been every day, lying on her towel when we arrived, still there when we left, her skin the dark oily sheen of roasted hazelnuts.

“Like a nun marries God,” Vito said, “she has married Apollo.”

“Is that the name of her plastic surgeon?” Amélie asked.

I laughed, my own implants barely contained in the triangles of my white bikini. Mine were expensively done. But it could be on account of something more subtle—an assumption Amélie made about me, and about herself, that we were both too clever and naturally pretty to stoop to paying for shortcuts—that she would not suspect my breasts aren’t real.

“She reminds me of someone,” Amélie said. “A woman I once knew who was addicted to tanning, and always on some starvation diet. She was very tortured. She died from drinking too much water.”

“What do you suppose got into her?” Vito asked.

“I think she mistook water for selfhood. Like those people who get into yoga and think you can just breathe and it will solve all your problems. Life is more than water and air.”

“There’s beer,” I said, as I opened a fresh one a waiter had just delivered.

“If your tortured friend had chosen beer,” Vito said, holding his up to mine, “she might still be alive.”»

Creation Lake
Rachel Kushner https://bookshop.org/p/books/creation-lake-rachel-kushner/21003229?ean=9781982116545&next=t

https://fortune.com/2025/07/24/sam-altman-theo-von-podcast-ai-fears-humanity/

I do. I know what happens “next”. People figure out AI is bullshit.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/24/preston-thorpe-is-a-software-engineer-at-a-san-fransisco-startup-hes-also-serving-his-eleventh-year-in-prison/

Neat!

All that hooie about the final episode not following the book is just hooie. They nailed it.

Now, about that before-the-final episode stuff….

*The Hill* on Trump and Epstein:

«Does someone on the Epstein list have some sort of hold over Trump? I won’t speculate — I’m just asking questions.»

https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/5407135-trump-epstein-files-conspiracy/

“Just asking questions.” LOL. 🙂

«“The point of this act for me is to earn a place here in Russia,” he told Russian state media last month. “If I risk myself for our new country, no one will say that I am not a part of it. Unlike migrants in America who come there just like that, do not assimilate, and at the same time want free handouts.”»

https://www.thedailybeast.com/texan-moved-fam-to-russia-to-flee-wokenow-hes-headed-to-ukraine-front-line/

«FWD.us estimates that approximately 700,000 foreign-born veterans, many of whom are now U.S. citizens, live in the U.S. today. We estimate there are about 45,000 immigrants actively serving.»

https://www.fwd.us/news/immigrants-in-the-military/

I wonder if he has ANY awareness or if he (and his family) is just a victim of far-right programming.

Jessica Riedl posts about the insanity of being in the cross-hairs of the online anti-trans “community”.

https://www.jessicariedl.blog/p/when-the-online-mob-came-after-meand

(Why is that name familiar to me? (Brian Riedl is less familiar to me.) [Googles some, then shrugs. 🤷])

Aha! https://herereadthis.blog/2025/02/23/doge-released-data-about-federal-contract-savings-it-doesnt-add-up/

Also, I searched my blog for the name and got this, because of the “Friedländer” reference (so, false match), but… it’s relevant? https://herereadthis.blog/2025/03/23/transgender-women-athletes-and-elite-sport-a-scientific-review/

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jul/10/children-limiting-own-smartphone-use-manage-mental-health-survey

I strongly suspect the kids are alright.