Jennifer Sandlin, writing for Boing Boing, has a post about regret.

Here’s a twenty-minute video recounting stories of regret, grief, and, honestly, pure ignorance, from people who voted for Trump and are beginning to suffer the consequences. The video was shared by MeidasTouch and features, as host Brett Meiselas explains, “Trump supporters already suffering after voting for Donald Trump in the 2024 election.”

I wish I could revel in schadenfreude, but, honestly, this video just makes me sad and angry that so many people unknowingly voted against their best interests or against the best interests of the people they love and care about. Sure, many folks knew exactly what they were voting for, but many didn’t, and that’s a sad commentary on the strength and pervasiveness of GOP propaganda as well as on the sorry state of education and critical media literacy in the United States. So, I get no pleasure from this video, only grief and outrage.

The Onion has purchased Alex Jones’s Infowars out of bankruptcy [unlocked article via Nextdraft]. This is hilarious.

Most importantly, they did it with the blessing of the Sandy Hook families, who have spent years working to hold Alex Jones to account for the spreading of his terrible conspiracy theories. InfoWars repeatedly alleged various false details about the school shooting, claiming that it was a “false flag” operation staged with “crisis actors,” in which no children were actually killed. Jones’s lies led to his listeners and fans harassing the family members of the children and teachers who were killed.

Bryce P. Tetraeder, Global Tetrahedron CEO, in an op-ed for The Onion:

Through it all, InfoWars has shown an unswerving commitment to manufacturing anger and radicalizing the most vulnerable members of society — values that resonate deeply with all of us at Global Tetrahedron.

No price would be too high for such a cornucopia of malleable assets and minds. And yet, in a stroke of good fortune, a formidable special interest group has outwitted the hapless owner of InfoWars (a forgettable man with an already-forgotten name) and forced him to sell it at a steep bargain: less than one trillion dollars.

Make no mistake: This is a coup for our company and a well-deserved victory for multinational elites the world over.

What’s next for InfoWars remains a live issue. The excess funds initially allocated for the purchase will be reinvested into our philanthropic efforts that include business school scholarships for promising cult leaders, a charity that donates elections to at-risk third world dictators, and a new pro bono program pairing orphans with stable factory jobs at no cost to the factories.

Best satire on the planet. SNL should take notes.

Nicholas Bate –

It’s true that the luxury of a ‘free’ day simply to write is a joy.

But such days are not necessary to produce your writing, your novel, your poem, your art.

Grab moments here and there. Resist the temptation to scroll; instead open the document and continue.

Neither the amount you write nor the quality of what you write need be defined by the time available.

Go write.

In this time of madness, Heather Cox Richardson shares wisdom and small seeds of hope* regarding the days to come. “The rift between the pre-2016 leaders of the Republican Party and the MAGA Republicans is still obvious, and Trump’s reliance on Elon Musk and his stated goal of deconstructing the American government could make it wider.”

While Trump is claiming a mandate to do as he wishes with the government, Republicans interested in their own political future are likely noting that he actually won the election by a smaller margin than President Joe Biden won in 2020, despite a global rejection of incumbents this year. And he won not by picking up large numbers of new voters—it appears he lost voters—but because Democratic voters of color dropped out, perhaps reflecting the new voter suppression laws put into place since 2021.

Then, too, Trump remains old and mentally slipping, and he is increasingly isolated as people fight over the power he has brought within their grasp. Today his wife, Melania, declined the traditional invitation from First Lady Jill Biden for tea at the White House and suggested she will not be returning to the presidential mansion with her husband. It is not clear either that Trump will be able to control the scrabbling for power over the party by those he has brought into the executive branch, or that he has much to offer elected Republicans who no longer need his voters, suggesting that Congress could reassert its power.

Falling into line behind Trump at this point is not necessarily a good move for a Republican interested in a future political career.

*Hope that democracy may survive, despite the horrors to come.

H/T: Metafilter

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Chancellor Robert Jones has decided to step down at the end of the academic year.

“I truly believe this is the greatest university in the world, which makes this the most difficult decision that has confronted me in my 47 years in higher education. My time at Illinois has been the most profound experience of my professional life, and I thank every single campus community member for that,” Jones said in a news release. “We are at the high point in our 157-year history in terms of our educational and research impact. Next is a period of transition with our institutional strategy and collaborations. This is an appropriate time to look toward the next leader who will build on that momentum and promote the bold ideas for which Illinois is known.”

He strongly supports Illinois Athletics and is one of the warmest and kindest people ever. This is a huge loss for the university. Here’s hoping they find someone of equal character.

This looks like a movie right up my alley.

Rami Malek is a nerdy guy with a vendetta in The Amateur trailer.

Cory Dransfeldt says social media is broken. He may be right.

Post on Mastodon, post on your own site, post on Bluesky, skip the algorithmic soup that is Threads (or — if you do — enable federation so I can follow you absent the noise) and please, please skip posting on the platform owned by the world’s dullest edgelord.

I invariably chafe at the thought and reality of participating in group chats but, if you don’t, they’re a compelling choice.

Want to follow news? Pick up an RSS reader and skip algorithmic noise.

Wherever you land you’ll recognize people you know and you’ll recognize them because you’ve had a meaningful interactions with them.

Me? I’m on Mastodon, I have my site (that I spend entirely too much time developing), a book and a nice corner to read in.

Find your space and don’t feel obligated to participate in any of it.

“Find your space and don’t feel obligated to participate in any of it.” is some excellent advice.

Seth Godin –

I love Zamboni machines.

They’re ungainly, they’re slow but they’re also majestic. Like an elephant for ice hockey.

After each period, when the ice is chopped up by play, the Zamboni rolls out and leaves behind a sheet of perfect ice. Cold, smooth and untouched.

It’s useful to acknowledge that the same service is offered to each of us, every night. We wake up in the morning with a freshly smoothed-over day in front of us.

Our intentions determine our first few moves, the way we’ll engage with today’s ice. And those moves often lead to the next ones, and on and on, until the day is over.

Add up enough clear ice days and the pattern becomes set.

Luke Winkie, writing for Slate, has a story that had been bubbling up in me for the exact same reasons. I’m so glad he put it out there.

The Harris campaign—now inexplicably dubbed the Harris Fight Fund—allows that, perhaps, Harris’ voters are hurting from an existential political defeat, one that has reduced morale in the party to a low not seen in two decades. Then, in a genuinely gaslighting turn, it asks for $50. (Or $75, or $100, or $500, which is a swindle that frankly approaches Stop the Steal proportions.) Why does the campaign need this money? Well, according to the email, “there are U.S. Senate and House races that are either too close to call, or within the margin of recounts or certain legal challenges.” So, if you take the campaign at its word, this money will be used to plug leaky holes across the nation—fending off, I don’t know, Kari Lake’s one-woman Jan. 6 when Ruben Gallego is certified the winner of Arizona.

The problem with that premise is, of course, that the Harris-Walz campaign is reportedly in debt to the tune of $20 million, and it appears the operation is attempting to strip the wires from the walls in order to fend off its creditors. (It’s bad enough that the campaign is allegedly shopping around its email list, which is great news for our spam filters.) This sell-off comes after Harris managed to raise more than $1 billion for her four-month campaign.

Look, campaigns are expensive. Nobody can blame the Harris-Walz campaign for emptying the coffers and leaving everything out on the field. They were trying to win an election! But it’s pretty rich for them to be soliciting donations while some of the … more questionable decisions the organization made with all of that money come to light. You know the ads they projected onto the Las Vegas Sphere? That cost $450,000 per day. The Kamala banners flown over football games in swing states? That was in the six-figure ballpark. Even if some of the rumors of millions spent on celebrity appearances may be more complicated, it seems pretty clear not every dollar of this operation was carefully considered.

I hit STOP on these emails so fast it would have made your head spin. They actively made me mad.

Cory Dransfeldt –

Follow just enough news.

Pay enough attention to know the broad strokes of what’s going on.

Don’t hyper-focus on things outside of your control.

Mute as needed. Unfollow as needed. Stop scrolling as needed.

Engage in good faith discussion. Walk away from bad faith arguments.[1]

Get involved in your community. Volunteer. Help with causes you care about.

Run for local office.

Listen.

Be a shoulder to cry on and as kind as you can bear to be.

And really — really — turn off the news. It demands all of your attention but requires just enough to stay comfortably informed.

–
[1] The majority of arguments on the internet end in a loss for and anger on both sides

Jeff Goins –

Art is the process of making something for someone. That’s it, that’s all I know. What I know is that when you try to make a thing for everyone, it ends up being for no one, because who wants to unwrap a present to “everyone”? No one. We all want something unique, something special, something that feels like it was made just for us.

Is it really final?

Mattel has issued an apology after customers spotted its Wicked edition dolls highlighting an adult website on the packaging. The box art copy mistakenly directed customers to the homepage of the Wicked Pictures pornographic movie studio, instead of the correct WickedMovie.com URL.

As someone who writes copy for packaging, I can’t believe this was an honest mistake. Some rogue copywriter conveniently forgot the “movie” part of wickedmovie.com just to see how far it would go and if anyone would catch it.

I bet this guy was fired pretty quickly.

Finally Professor Eddie Glaude of Princeton, confronted the issue as to why white people voted for Trump on a so-called liberal station like @MSNBC, you should see unless you too want to remain in the closet about the reality of what America is. It’s about time. pic.twitter.com/V9imvm6F5F

— Mr. Reynolds (@MrReynolds52) November 9, 2024

Caitlin Dewey, writing on her substack Links I Would Gchat You If We Were Friends, has made a good list of articles to read in this post-election time.

The next morning, we woke up. Drank our coffee. Did our jobs. Bought our groceries at the same corner store. Walked past the same houses, “Harris” signs in their yards.

Nothing feels the same, but it all looks quite unchanged — a dissonance sure to cause dizziness for some. Your eyes and your heart send conflicting signals; your brain isn’t sure what to make of them. Is this still my home, my block, my country? Do I understand who and where I am? I have the sense of sliding backwards through the world, like standing in the surf as the tide turns back again.

She then lists the articles she’s been reading –

“This Place Is All Fucked Up,” by Barry Petchesky for Defector. “How America Made Peace With Cruelty,” by Adam Serwer for The Atlantic “Broken Bones: America’s Violent Indifference Toward Women,” by Kate Manne for More to Hate “The TikTok Electorate,” by Max Read for Read Max “How to Live Under Rising Authoritarianism, According to a Philosopher Who Did It Bravely,” by Sigal Samuel for Vox

It’s a good list.

A long post by John Gruber about his Dad, the election, loss, and hope. It’s one of the best blog posts I’ve read in a long time.

To be clear, the election is hardly mentioned, but it does bring a different perspective on what’s important and what we make important. I was a bit more emotional at the end than I thought I would be when I started reading it.

Well worth your time.

Here are a couple of Marvel movie trailers that have helped me get my mind off of [waves hands around at everything].

Captain America: Brave New World | Official Trailer
Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts* | D23 Brazil Special Look

Gabe Simonds, writing for Viva El Birdos, has the story about the future of First Base on the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Cardinals had something of a unique problem entering the 2025 season. They had Willson Contreras under contract for 3 years, $59.5 million with a fourth-year club option (the buyout is factored into that 3-year price). They had Ivan Herrera, out of options and with a 127 wRC+, entering his age 25 season. And lastly, Pedro Pages, who the club clearly prefers defensively over Herrera. How do you keep all three on the MLB roster?

We have our answer. It’s not to trade one of them. It’s to play Willson Contreras at 1B. Among first basemen, Contreras’ 140 wRC+ would have been the 3rd best in baseball, behind just Vladmir Guerrero Jr. and Bryce Harper. Yes, he had a better hitting line than Freddie Freeman last season. His bat absolutely plays at 1B.

If you go back three years, Willson Contreras has a combined 133 wRC+, which matches Matt Olson’s bat the past three seasons. Olson is one of just five 1B with a 133 wRC+ or better among qualified 1B over the past three years. Contreras can even decline with the bat and still match his new brethren. Just nine 1B since 2022 have been better than Contreras’ career 121 wRC+. If his bat doesn’t fall off a cliff and there’s not really any reason to think it would yet, Contreras would be a top 10 hitting 1B in baseball.

I think this is a fantastic move. I loved Paul Goldschmidt, but he needs a new environment with a club like the Yankees to round out his career. There’s no way Contreras will match the defense the Cardinals received from Goldy at first base. Still, I think it remains to be seen how this goes. The Cardinals need his bat in the lineup; this is the best option. He will eventually be the full-time DH, so this is a great stop-gap.

It also looks like Sonny Gray is staying in St. Louis, too.

Mile Fleming Jr, writing for Deadline, has the scoop on new Star Wars movies coming.

EXCLUSIVE: Lucasfilm has closed a deal with Simon Kinberg to develop a trilogy of Star Wars films. Kinberg will write the trio and produce them with Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy.

I heard this will comprise Episodes 10-12 of The Skywalker Saga that began with George Lucas’s 1977 first film, which, along with Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, reshaped the global blockbuster game. Insiders disputed my intel that Kinberg will continue that storyline, saying this instead will begin a new saga, and sit alongside percolating Star Wars projects with James Mangold, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Taika Waititi and Donald Glover. As usual, Lucasfilm and Disney are not commenting.

Except they are.

Rebecca Rubin, writing for Variety, says it is not Episodes 10-12.

Lucasfilm is developing a new “Star Wars” trilogy with Kinberg set to write and produce the three films with studio chief Kathleen Kennedy. This will begin a new series with new characters after “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” starring Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver and Oscar Isaac, concluded the original nine-chapter “Skywalker Saga” in 2019. Though plot details haven’t been revealed, Lucasfilm has disputed the notion, first suggested by Deadline in their initial report of the forthcoming trilogy, that Kinberg’s movies will continue the story that George Lucas began with 1977’s “A New Hope,” introducing Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, Harrison Ford as Han Solo and Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia.

Borys Kit, writing for The Hollywood Reporter, says the same thing even more directly.

The new story is not meant to be a continuation of the Skywalker Saga, the name of the overall arc of the popular and pop culture-dominating Star Wars movies known as Episodes 1 through 9. The intent here is to have brand new characters and a new story, and not have it be a continuation, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter. (Although that does not mean that some characters could not or would not pop up.)

Obviously, the “sources” are Disney and probably Kathleen Kennedy. I think it would be a big deal if they were actually extending the Star Wars branding to Episodes 10-12. The “sources” may not want that revelation to be out there just yet.

I also wish they’d drop all the other percolating projects and just focus on a continuation of Star Wars post Episode 9. For instance, the solo Rey movie should actually just be Episode 10.

Of course, that make too much sense.

The next movie that for sure if happening is Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian & Grogu, a continuation of the Disney+ series about the bounty hunter and baby Yoda coming out May, 2026. Personally, I would like the sequel to this to be named, Ahsoka and The Acolyte just for the internet uproar.

Apropos of nothing, my two cents on Episode 10-12 titles:

Star Wars Ep10 - An Amethyst Blade
Star Wars Ep11 - The Two Temples
Star Wars Ep12 - Revelation of the Force

I’ll let you figure out what any of this means. Likely, sound and fury signifying nothing.