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.

Manuel Moreale –

The main thing I realized recently is how lost my mind has become. I stopped meditating, I stopped reading books, and I’m consuming an unhealthy amount of news. The worst part of all this is that I’m painfully aware of all this happening. I’m mindful enough to notice the inner workings of my mind going to shit but not mindful enough to do what’s needed to change the situation. I despise being in this silly middle ground. But at the same time, I’m grateful to know that there’s a way out of this and it only requires some dedication, a healthy dose of patience, and more importantly some kindness towards myself.

Nicholas Bate –

If it’s big, make it small: break it down into mangeable, time and brain friendly chunks.

If it’s small, make it big: what’s the big reason behind this task, why is it important to me?

Go produce.

Bill Kristol, writing at The Bulwark, wonders what this all means.

The American people have made a disastrous choice. And they have done so decisively, and with their eyes wide open.

Donald J. Trump will be our next president, elected with a majority of the popular vote, likely winning both more votes and more states than he did in his two previous elections. After everything — after his chaotic presidency, after January 6th, after the last year in which the mask was increasingly off, and no attempt was made to hide the extremism of the agenda or the ugliness of the appeal — the American people liked what they saw. At a minimum, they were willing to accept what they saw.

And Trump was running against a competent candidate who ran a good campaign to the center and bested him in a debate, with a strong economy. Yet Trump prevailed, pulling off one of the most remarkable comebacks in American political history. Trump boasted last night, “We’ve achieved the most incredible political thing,” and he’s not altogether wrong. […]

So: We can lament our situation. We can analyze how we got here. We can try to learn lessons from what has happened. We have to do all these things.

But we can’t only do those things. As Churchill put it: “In Defeat: Defiance.” We’ll have to keep our nerve and our principles against all the pressure to abandon them. We’ll have to fight politically and to resist lawfully. We’ll have to do our best to limit the damage from Trump. And we’ll have to lay the groundwork for future recovery.

To do all this, we’ll have to constitute a strong opposition and a loyal opposition, loyal to the Declaration and the Constitution, loyal to the past achievements and future promise of this nation, loyal to what America has been and should be.

Meghan Bartels –

Short term, you have to do something you can control when you’re in a situation you can’t control. Do something you can control—in your house, in your home, with your family. Go running, listen to music, go to a movie, do something that requires action, that makes your body move. You’ll feel better for that. Go see a neighbor.

Long term, get involved. Get involved with whatever works for change that will bring us closer to the future, not take us backward.

John Gruber –

I realized this year — or perhaps over the last four years — that for me, belief in the merits of democracy is quasi-religious. It’s more than a philosophy. It’s a fundamental belief. I have faith in democracy, and part of that is accepting the results of any fair and free election as the will of the electorate — similar, I think, to how actually religious people have faith that unspeakable tragedies can somehow be the will of a just and righteous deity. Through that prism, and with the genuine shock of 2016 giving me a brace, I can accept this. But because of that prism, I will never forgive or forget Trump’s shameful desecration of our democratic ideals in 2020. His winning in 2016 and again now are awful events. But his attempt to overturn the 2020 election — ham-fisted, idiotic, and failed though it thankfully was — was and will always be worse.

I didn’t want to believe more people liked his ideas than not. It doesn’t matter, though, because he’s still an asshole and unfit for office. January 6 is just one of the reasons.

I don't study politics, but I do study culture, and here are some of the signs that a cultural shift has been brewing for years in America that most of the professional political analysts just completely missed.

Some of these may seem absurd, but hear me out. 🧵
We'll start… pic.twitter.com/PUdm30ggxD

— Paul Anleitner (@PaulAnleitner) November 6, 2024

The Popular Success of Top Gun: Maverick

After the killing of George Floyd and the subsequent protests and rioting in 2020, it seemed to many in the intelligentsia that “culturally relevant” films needed to directly address DEI or systemic race issues to find wide appeal.

Top… pic.twitter.com/hYBptWRACv

— Paul Anleitner (@PaulAnleitner) November 6, 2024

The Mass Cultural Influence of "Anti-Woke" Comedians

While it seems that many of the political talking heads had no idea who Tony Hinchcliffe was until his Puerto Rico joke at Trump's Madison Square Garden rally, Hinchcliffe's show "Kill Tony" is one of the most… pic.twitter.com/smL1eAthuW

— Paul Anleitner (@PaulAnleitner) November 6, 2024

Major Corporations Making Cuts to DEI Programs

After 2020, major corporations made concerted efforts to increase funding and attention to diversity, equity, and inclusion programs (DEI).

By 2024, we began to see corporations making cuts to those same programs.

Only one… pic.twitter.com/SOf6C6vPd2

— Paul Anleitner (@PaulAnleitner) November 6, 2024

Enrollment Surges at K-12 Christian Schools

If you talk to just about anyone who works in a private, Christian school, the post-COVID spike in enrollment has been unprecedented.

But it wasn't just that many Christian schools found ways to provide more in-person education during… pic.twitter.com/ihoFpdo5pe

— Paul Anleitner (@PaulAnleitner) November 6, 2024

The Star Wars Wars

Since Disney's release of its divisive Star Wars: The Last Jedi in 2017, Star Wars has been embroiled in an online culture war.
Silly as it may sound to some, Star Wars has become an important myth in our culture and challenges to mythos means challenges to… pic.twitter.com/xcRu8KS6fe

— Paul Anleitner (@PaulAnleitner) November 6, 2024

The Metamodern Resurgence of Creed

I talked about this ad nauseam last year when I became the guy who predicted the resurgence of Creed before it happened, so I won't repeat all my talking points here.

But you can't understand the metamodern shift unless you get "vibes."

Our… pic.twitter.com/qBENHT6iiS

— Paul Anleitner (@PaulAnleitner) November 6, 2024

Finally-

If you can learn to read culture as a student of cultural texts, you won't need political polls.

If you find this stuff interesting or helpful, feel free to follow.

🧵over.

— Paul Anleitner (@PaulAnleitner) November 6, 2024

Tom Nichols, writing for The Atlantic –

Paradoxically, however, Trump’s reckless venality is a reason for hope. Trump has the soul of a fascist but the mind of a disordered child. He will likely be surrounded by terrible but incompetent people. All of them can be beaten: in court, in Congress, in statehouses around the nation, and in the public arena. America is a federal republic, and the states — at least those in the union that will still care about democracy — have ways to protect their citizens from a rogue president. Nothing is inevitable, and democracy will not fall overnight.

Do not misunderstand me. I am not counseling complacency: Trump’s reelection is a national emergency. If we have learned anything from the past several years, it’s that feel-good, performative politics can’t win elections, but if there was ever a time to exercise the American right of free assembly, it is now — not least because Trump is determined to end such rights and silence his opponents. […]

Trump’s victory is a grim day for the United States and for democracies around the world. You have every right to be appalled, saddened, shocked, and frightened. Soon, however, you should dust yourself off, square your shoulders, and take a deep breath. Americans who care about democracy have work to do.

I was cautiously optimistic Harris would win, but I knew it was possible this guy would find a way. We live in the worst possible timeline.