Why should anyone care what you think? You’re just another banal plutocrat.

There’s no small amount of bullshit involved in investment banking.

Fun!

What Trump didn't proclaim yesterday was that "his" battleships will be built by South Korea's largest military contractor Hanwha. "Buy America" my ass. english.hani.co.kr/arti/english...

This has been made available, so for purposes of commenting on Bari Weiss's decision to spike the story, here's a live-post of that segment. It begins with a "you may recall" summary of the deportation to el Salvador. Describes the admin's claim that it could deport the men without due process

Miners are just props.

These guys are fighting an opposition that would be happy to see all of them in jail, and they come up with this weak shit.

Let the punishment fit the crime

fresh audio product: • Thea Riofrancos @triofrancos.bsky.social , author of Extraction, on the complexities of lithium • Alyssa Battistoni @alybatt.bsky.social, author of Free Gifts, on the weird relationship between capitalism and Nature www.leftbusinessobserver.com/Radio.html#S...

I was frankly a lot more comfortable with the idea that the CCP would have my data than these people

I'm fundraising today on @kpfa.org. If you like BtN and want to keep it coming, please contribute! Best would be if you do it between 3:40 and 4:00 PM Eastern/12:40–1:00 Pacific, so I get properly credited. But it's all welcome! support.kpfa.org or 800-439-5732.

Still some bugs in the system. www.wsj.com/tech/ai/anth...

We need socialized medicine to get these costs down.

I'm fundraising today on @kpfa.org. If you like BtN and want to keep it coming, please contribute! Best would be if you do it between 3:40 and 4:00 PM Eastern/12:40–1:00 Pacific, so I get properly credited. But it's all welcome! support.kpfa.org or 800-439-5732.

Privatization and service cuts: Another Mass Staffing Purge at the VA prospect.org/2025/12/18/a...

Well ok but how is this different from the “now he’s gone too far” line we’ve heard for years?

When you’ve lost Matt Walsh…

I reviewed yesterday's employment report for Jacobin: jacobin.com/2025/12/us-e...

AntiPublica

Today, on the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, we remember the lives lost due to violence. Today is a call to action to continue fighting against the stigma, discrimination, and legislation that fuel this cruel violence. ☂️

I have a Substack account that I've never used, though I think I'm going to start one in early January. Not exactly cutting edge, I know, but there's a dearth of good left economic analysis out there. But I was alarmed to get this notification.

Things are getting bitchy on the right. Candace Owens’s spokesperson responds to Tim Pool’s attacks: “For a man hiding his bald scalp behind a beanie, Tim is exhibiting markedly elevated estrogen levels in his behavior.” www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

This doesn’t seem politically promising.

Say something monstrous and then throw a few more heaps of monstrosity on top just for good measure.

Endorsed by one of the greatest charlatans in the history of economics. “Highly respected by all!”

Robin Ince reveals to last night’s audience at a recording of Infinite Monkey Cage that the BBC has forced him to resign over his support of trans people

Trump attacks quickly turn to threats: www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...

always a delight to chat with Doug! This time about the private equity-ization of the Penagon.

fresh audio product: • Anatol Lieven analyzes the Trump national security strategy • Susannah Glickman on the transformation of the US government into a private equity firm (NYRB interview here) www.leftbusinessobserver.com/Radio.html#S...

"The executive board of antifa." This would be hilarious if these maniacs didn't have police power.

A light unto the world

How are the MAGA loons going to react to this? Rethink or dig in?

Rubio's change of the official State Department typeface from (silly) Calibri to (tired) Times may be ridiculous, but also a sign how much these people hate the disabled. Sans serif is easier on the visually impaired, so making accommodation is woke. Eugenicists, all of them.

ICE’s acting director ordered a Boston Catholic parish to tear down its Advent Nativity scene—stripped of baby Jesus and branded with the message “ICE WAS HERE.” The parish priest is refusing, citing he pope’s call to stand with migrants. It's another chapter in Kristi Noem's war on Christians.

He’s back on this? It’s un-American

Great polemic

RIP the American university system. It had its flaws but it had many more splendors. The yahoos have won.

Welcome to Dystopia, 2025 model.

The lunacy spreads. From a Bloomberg BusinessWeek email:

without birthright citizenship in the united states, you don't have a democracy and you don't have rule of law. revoking birthright citizenship gives fascists free rein to purge the country of literally anyone they don't like. it opens the door to atrocities and mass murder. i am not exaggerating.

I suppose it should be some consolation that they're all awful to each other too. The right these days is making intra-Trotskyist disputes look like a light rain.

Pope Leo's remarks on AI delivered yesterday in Rome are remarkably well informed, nuanced, and certain to completely infuriate the tech bros. In sum, he argues that the careful regulation www.vatican.va/content/leo-...

There’s much joy in Heaven and on earth when a new billionaire is minted

fresh audio product: • David Adler and Matt Kirkegaard on the Honduran elections • Elfadil Ibrahim on the Sudanese civil war • Eric Blanc on the lessons of Milwaukee’s decades of “sewer socialism” for Mamdani and Wilson www.leftbusinessobserver.com/Radio.html#S...

The Manhattan luxury apartment market surged in the month after Zohran Mamdani's election: “There is no Mamdani effect.” www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Also: affordability is a hoax.

like i said months ago: reopen alcatraz and fill it with tech billionaires. they must be stopped.

‘Times have changed since the 1960s. Military force and police repression are unlikely to produce the outcomes the US desires, and may end up strengthening Latin American nationalisms instead.’ Forrest Hylton on the US, Colombia and Venezuela, from the blog. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...

Still happening

I thought it was a lawless hellhole.