Lee Feagin

Graham Platner and the Class Politics of Impunity

Nevertheless, the idea that Graham Platner’s behavior is just part of working class life needs to be addressed. If Platner’s past rhetoric about and treatment of women are the natural price of running a working class candidate, isn’t the implication that working class men by nature mistreat the women in their lives? Isn’t the subsequent implication that we are supposed to believe we live in a world where working class women are routinely mistreated and that we are also supposed to accept this as a natural consequence of their station? 

If you believe in MAGA, the answer to this is a full-throated “yes”.

Messi just can’t stop 🐐-ing

I don’t know that I’ve ever seen Lea Thompson in anything from the 80’s where she was not absolutely getting it done. 💯

Watching the Norway match and there is a striker named Sørloth. Like this man is from a Lord of the Rings novel or something.

Fox to Acquire Roku in $22 Billion Deal

On a call with analysts, Murdoch, executive chair and CEO of Fox, called the acquisition a “defining moment” for his company, and one that “pairs Fox, the leader in live news and sports, with Roku, the leading connected TV platform. This acquisition will strengthen and expand our position in the high growth digital video ecosystem and unlocks new ways to serve our audiences and partners.”

Not that I would ever buy a Roku before this, but I’m definitely not buying one now.

This image sums it up pretty well.

“It’s vulgar, it’s violent, it’s commercial, it’s grandiose, it’s tacky, and it dishonors a place once thought worthy of care and respect.

In other words, it’s Donald Trump.”

Week 406: Shelf

I think with AI you’ve got to be building the software equivalent of escalators if you’re going to do it for prod. That way if the AI goes away you still have stairs, unless you’ve gotten too out of shape to walk up them.

See, I read this as if you have to make Plan B deterministic (as a backup), why have a non-deterministic Plan A in the first place?

I’m usually all for uniformity and consistency. But this mandate for hydration breaks during this World Cup even when the match is INDOORS is just crazy.

This is my hand towel holder. Right next to my sink in the bathroom. You will notice it is free of its titular hand towel. In fact, it’s a rare occasion that it has its towel in tow.

This is not a slight to Jayme. Not even a little bit. She does a fantastic job of keeping up with laundry. Especially when the kids are home.

The real reason is that everyone uses dad’s hand towel. Except dad. Jayme uses it when she’s on my side (for whatever reason…makeup, hair drying, what have you). Caroline uses it whenever she uses the bathroom for the shower and/or bath. And Brian uses it when he shaves in my sink. Do they have their own bathroom? Yes they do.

We’ve lived in this house for 7 years. Do you know how many times I’ve actually used my own hand towel?

About 6 times.

Kennedy Center removes Trump’s name from building - The Washington Post

“With the removal of 18 letters — “The Donald J. Trump and” — the building’s exterior reads “The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts” once more. Trump’s name had been on the facade for 176 days, a dramatic change to the 55-year-old memorial to an assassinated president.”

Good. Things can go back to normal.

Really trying to understand why FIFA chose “MAR” for the abbreviation for Morocco. The only thing that might make sense is the French name for the country (“Maroc”). Yet, when the country’s name is spelled out elsewhere in the tournament, it’s the normal spelling “Morocco”.

Weird.

I’m genuinely asking…

In 1986, when the World Cup was hosted in Mexico, were there hydration breaks? If not, why? If so, why is everyone making such a big deal of them now?

I never realized how loud a hard surface flooring installation is in an empty house. The echoing is just ridiculous.

Infantino’s Yearslong Effort to Woo Trump for the World Cup - The New York Times

For the past year, FIFA, the governing body of international soccer, has leased an office on the 17th floor of New York’s Trump Tower that has sat all but empty. The rent goes to President Trump’s family business, but soccer officials say the space sits largely idle.

Paying rent to the Trumps was the choice of Gianni Infantino, FIFA’s president, who has made being close to Mr. Trump a top priority. He has lavished the president with praise, trophies and a medal. He has made pilgrimages to Mar-a-Lago, the Trump National Doral golf club and even the “Melania” documentary premiere.

Mr. Infantino has publicly boosted the president through impeachments and plummeting poll numbers.

It was all in service, Mr. Infantino’s supporters say, of ensuring that the World Cup, which begins this week, goes off without a hitch. Mr. Trump could disrupt the games in any number of ways. Mr. Infantino, allies say, is handling a volatile president who responds to praise and gifts.

That swamp Trump kept railing against must be absolutely resplendent.

The Supreme Court Has Invented a Right to Discriminate - The Atlantic

Now here was an example of exactly what Alito was talking about. “States are free to decide for themselves whether last-minute changes to an election are in their best interests,” the justices wrote this week. If a Republican legislature decides that a redistricting plan to suppress the power of Black voters is “in their best interests,” they may proceed.

They’re not hiding it.

It’s not surprising that every person I’ve met that rails against school indoctrination (both K-12 and higher ed) don’t know any actual teachers in real life, much less stepped a single foot in a classroom as an adult.

Why is it that everybody loses their damn mind when a man transitions to a woman, but nobody seems to give a shit about when a woman transitions to a man?

Why Linux creator Linus Torvalds gets angry hearing “99% of code is AI” - The New Stack

Torvalds dismissed the idea that AI might one day “replace” programming, arguing instead that it boosts productivity, much like past revolutions in software development. Torvalds emphasized that true software engineering requires, in the immediate future, human understanding of the underlying systems, not just the ability to write AI prompts.

💯

If you have to ask this question in real life, put the underwear down.

The story of Norway’s Viking World Cup photoshoot

This is fantastic!

Everyone should have an oversized T-shirt that they can lounge around the house in.

Imagine being so homophobic that you won’t even wear a hat, for one night, with the logo of your team filled with a rainbow color design.

And, of course, the Texas Rangers with their own “hold my beer” moment:

Why is there so much hate for homosexuals? I just don’t understand. I don’t understand the lack of empathy and humanity from these utterly obvious bigots.

What’s it like to have a jawline?

Daring Fireball: ‘The Insider’

All this Sturm und Drang surrounding 60 Minutes has me thinking about a re-watch of The Insider, Michael Mann’s great 1999 movie. Letterboxd’s synopsis: “A research chemist comes under personal and professional attack when he decides to appear in a 60 Minutes exposé on Big Tobacco.” It’s a great movie, and feels apt AF at the moment. Here’s the original segment on 60 Minutes, which ran an entire half hour.

What’s going on today is like if — instead of getting shady, threatening, and litigious — the tobacco companies had just purchased CBS, purged the staff at 60 Minutes, and hired a bunch of pro-cigarette stooges to replace them.

Spot on.

Candy cigarettes…who even knew they still made these?!

Tony Gilroy Accepts Award for Andor: “Fuck the Empire!”

Now that Andor has been out for a while, showrunner Tony Gilroy is free to speak his mind on what the show was all about. I mean, it was pretty clear to the audience, but now he can say his piece.

Love this, too.

As it pertains to AI, I really feel like Dr. Ian Malcom.

Three Ways to Get Paid – Jason Zweig

Linking this here for the future. No reason.

Scott Pelley Accuses CBS News Boss of ‘Murdering’ ‘60 Minutes’

CBS News faced a fresh wave of turmoil on Monday after Scott Pelley, the “60 Minutes” correspondent, laced into the show’s newly hired executive producer during a staff meeting and accused Bari Weiss, the network’s editor in chief, of “murdering” the longstanding Sunday news program.

Love to see this. Individuals, journalists specifically, standing up and telling the truth.

I see no lie.

This blind guy just walked in with a set of golf clubs over his shoulder. And now I have questions.

Seen at the grocery store:

What?!

Why So Many Control Rooms Were Seafoam Green

Now, looking at the interiors of the Manhattan Project control rooms and plants, the broad use of Light and Medium Green makes sense. One mistake and mass devastation could have occurred within these towns. Birren writes, “Note that most of the standards are soft in tone. This is deliberate and intended to establish a non-distracting environment. Green is a restful and natural-looking color for average factory interiors. Light Green with Medium Green is suggested.”

Fascinating information about something we don’t really think about (unless we’re trained to think about it). Hospitals are the same way. Here’s an example control room following Birren’s suggestions:

Looks normal to me. It probably looks normal to you. But it’s normal because of his influence. Well done, sir.

Treasury Department confirms steps taken to put Trump on new $250 bill | AP News

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday that his department has prepared the design for a $250 bill featuring President Donald Trump, anticipating the passage of stalled legislation in Congress to put the president on a new denomination of legal tender.

Totally normal behavior.

I cannot seem to type-spell notification consistently. It’s like a brain-to-muscle block or something. I even misspelled it typing it out here.

“Love defies logic,” said the logical thinker.

Todd Vaziri on Mastodon:

What a dreadful place we are in where a mega billionaire says something like “You could double the taxes I pay, and it’s not gonna help that teacher in Queens. I promise you.” and not be shamed by the culture and the people around him into making a public apology the very next day.

Couldn’t agree more. And yet, here we are.

Nothing says honoring fallen American soldiers than having those 10x extra state patrols out there on the roads setting speed traps.

Switching to water from now on. This is ridiculous.

Watching “Doc Hollywood” for the 452nd time.

Two things:

• Hard to believe this movie was released 35 years ago!!
• Julie Warner played a pivotal role in this 11 year old’s life.

After the rain.

Greg Knauss on Mastodon:

The rapidly-increasing percentage of my day spent ensuring that whatever product or service I’m interacting with isn’t actively trying to fuck me is exhausting.

We are no longer customers or clients or citizens or even human. We are exploitable marks, turnips to be bled dry and discarded.

I don’t mean this to apply just to tech — it’s everything, from cable providers to oil companies to the stock market to (and inspired and led by) the President of the United States.

We live in a grift culture, where the only thing that matters is how much you have to be cheated out of.

Yep, yep, yep.

Beyond Plastics Tracked Starbucks’ ‘Widely Recyclable’ Plastic Cups. None Ended Up at a Recycling Facility. — Beyond Plastics - Working To End Single-Use Plastic Pollution

Between January and March 2026, Beyond Plastics placed 53 Bluetooth-enabled trackers inside single-use polypropylene cold cups and dropped them into in-store recycling bins at 35 Starbucks locations across nine states and Washington, D.C. Of the 36 trackers that returned usable data, none pinged from a recycling facility. Instead, the cups traveled to landfills, incinerators, waste-transfer stations, and material recovery facilities.

Can’t say I’m surprised.

Watched “All the President’s Men” for the first time last night. The 1970’s era of filmmaking sits in stark contrast to today. The picture quality, the color palette, the light (or lack thereof), the sound mixing, just to name a few.

But the thing that stood out to me was the following screenshot:

Why are there just cars parked perpendicular to the parking spaces? What kind of madness is this?

Wow, do I not know my U.S. geography! Atlanta is 7th on this list!