I Told You So - 22 September 2026

Well... it's been rather a long while since I took up the mantra: "It's the Senate, stupid!!" The logic to that being, naturally, that gerrymanders don't (at least directly) affect state wide votes.

Now, the great and powerful Nate Cohn more or less agrees.

James Talarico has led every recent survey of the Texas Senate race, with polls showing him ahead among Hispanic voters by at least 20 points. Although his lead is often mostly dismissed as a reflection of the profound flaws of his Republican opponent, Ken Paxton, the polls also show the Democrat Gina Hinojosa to be surprisingly competitive in the race for governor against the incumbent, Greg Abbott, who leads by an average of three points in recent polls.

Now, of course, TX is, as always, an anomaly but nevertheless points to the obvious: state wide is easier to defeat than the gerrymander. There also remains the chance that the gerrymander in TX will come up short, so to speak

In a sign that the G.O.P. itself doesn't consider the races safe, Republican groups are spending in all six of these seats — which include four of the five districts Republicans thought they could flip with their new gerrymander.

Chocolate sauce on your pudding.

The Democratic Party's chances of having a truly exceptional midterm election — one that yields a large congressional majority and control of the Senate — could depend on whether Democratic gains among Hispanic voters translate into breakthroughs in Texas and Florida.

TAM - part the fifth

Well... the news keep on coming. It is my duty to carry on, when the news fits my agenda, of course. This new report on the angst amongst the Moneyed Class doesn't explicitly cite TAM for the tightening of sphincters amongst that class, but one need not read too deeply between the lines to see what's driving the angst.

But some investors are voicing increasing skepticism about the growth expectations for data centers and the risks associated with their build-out, forcing industry executives and their advisers to recalibrate their plans to raise tens of billions of dollars in public markets.

That bit, "growth expectations", is just another way to bleat "what's the TAM going to be when this shit goes live???!!!???" Really now. Who's going to pay out of pocket for AI porn when there's a torrent of free stuff? Not that I've dined at that table, mind you. But investing, and even staying in business past the expire date, depends on customers buying your shit. If anyone has a detailed justification for a TAM worthy of multiple trillions of Bongo Bucks investments, I'm all ears. Like Clark Gable.

Thought For The Day - 21 September 2026

Shit. I suppose it was inevitable, but now the thieves just have to follow the buzz to get free stuff. Capitalism at it's finest.

"What's happening in Richardson is about to happen all over the country, and people are finally going to believe us that having all these drones flying around is actually a big, big problem," said Scott Bratcher, who is the president of his homeowners' association in a Richardson neighborhood that residents have called a drone highway.

Ya think???

Brian Rowe, an executive in tech and cybersecurity, has shown up to City Council meetings to complain. He has considered many methods of clearing the drones above his home, even looking into commercial anti-drone technology. But that technology, mostly for military use, costs tens of thousands of dollars, he said.

"What can we do?" Mr. Rowe said.

This is Texas, right? Home of the rollercoaster next to a house? Lots o guns in TX. An AR-15 with a good silencer would do the trick.

Building the roller coaster did not require any special permits from the city of Kemah, City Administrator Bill Kerber said. Since all setback requirements were met and the city has no zoning, a building permit for the coaster was issued without any variances. No public hearing was required to inform area residents.

Freedom!!!!!

TAM - part the fourth

One series, but different targets it's turning out. There are so many and so little time. Here's a new report on the fight against obesity. Keep in mind: obesity is a First World Problem, given that 25.8% of the world's propulation is, at the least, food insecure. Ok, so that's mostly in shithole countries, so who gives a shit? Oh, that's right; just woke assholes.

And, as has been reported with more frequency as Kim Don-Felon and his Merry Band of Fascists^{©(a Tesla investor)} make war on the poor, about 50% of USofA consumer spending comes from the top 10% of us. Makes one wonder whether Eccles still holds.

What might happen to Novo's investment when Bone Spur Samurai^©'s debt fueled indulgences kick the shit out of the economy and thus obesity's TAM??? Hmmm?? What happens if Our Malignant Narcissist^{©John Gardner} decides to write an EO ending Medicare and Medicaid? As he has said, he's the President and can do anything he wants. The Gang of Six has shown little enthusiasm for enforcing the plain language of the Constitution. And, what should be obvious by now, what he wants is the Capital K-Shape economy/society of the pre-War of Northern Agression USofA era; redux. Have a nice day. Almost the equinox and SAD times. Boo hoo.

[update]

Well... not quite Medicare and Medicaid but yet a bit closer

Slowly I turned. Step by step. Inch by inch.

That's, of course, from the Three Stooges.

Traditionally, the N.I.H. selects projects based on expert review of their scientific merit. But Mr. Trump has sought through a series of recent directives in his second term to bring that process under political review, arguing in part that the government has been funding "woke" liberal priorities.

The Barbarians have sacked Rome.

I Told You So - 20 September 2026 -- Bigly

Well... that didn't take long. Wasn't so long ago that these missives opined that Kim Don-Felon and his Merry Band of Fascists^{©(a Tesla investor)} will nationalize AI, and quoted a MAGAnaut who opined that He and His would use AI for mass surveillance. Here we are.

Mr. Trump did not make clear whether he envisioned the new A.I. Force as a military command or a civilian agency or department. White House officials did not respond to an email seeking clarification.

Of course he did.

President Trump is so enamored of the Space Force, a military command he created in his first term, that he keeps its flag by his desk in the Oval Office. He took personal interest in the design of its uniforms, which bear close resemblance to those of Galactic Empire officers in "Star Wars."

On Saturday, Mr. Trump proposed a follow-on to Space Force: a new "A.I. Force." But he left to earthbound speculation what, exactly, it was supposed to do.

Of course we know. The same as the Galactic Empire. D'uh.

Warsh Spits in His Eye

Well... he done did it. Boy howdy. Now, Bone Spur Samurai^© doesn't know shit about econ, despite having (so he says) some kind of $.25 degree in a niche corner of econ as a two year undergrad at Wharton. He wants the unenlightened to assume he has the coveted (even when he spent two paltry years there) Wharton MBA. Not a chance.

The bedrock of inflation: where does it come from. At the macro level, there's too much demand (folks have more moolah than they should have, for some definitions of 'more' and 'should') and there's too little supply (where producers are too scared to make product, and don't). The Covid-19 inflation was mostly the latter on the way out. The in-Covid-19 inflation was both. Because so much of the global economy was ham-strung, supply slackened. OTOH, some Damn Gummints suplemented household incomes due to so many people being out of work, but producers were chary of supplying. So, we gots some inflation.

One might argue that we've been riding the slack-supply bronco ever since. Turns out, there are data sources. Here's one. There's some really simple, pretty, and informative graphs which lay out the situation.

Warsh et al have spit in Bone Spur Samurai^©'s eye, but, as is obvious from the graphs (and, just to remind, it's FED graphs) that we're still in a slack-supply inflation at nearly all data points since Covid-19. Bone Spur Samurai^© is a plain idiot. But he's kinda right, but mostly wrong. The Fed can't make producers market more product. Xi and Kim and Vlad can, of course, but it wouldn't be in Bone Spur Samurai^©'s interest to actually jawbone his billionaire buddies to lessen the problem. The Goldfinger way to get rich; destroy the "others" production and the value of yours rises. You tink he's upset about the reduction of global oil? Not a bit of it. Domestic oil is making a killing. Ah, the beauty of unfettered capitalism.

Putting the brakes on when supply lags demand, is exactly the wrong thing to do. What a Damn Gummint can do is a bigger issue, beyond my pay grade.

Thought For The Day - 14 September 2026

Well... some of the AI oligarches are getting all sweaty in their sphincters. They're not really sweaty about the threat of unrestrained AI has to the rest of us. They're sweaty about losing the ability to rule the world.

And, if they're paying attention, they're sweaty that they'll lose control of their AI systems to Our Malignant Narcissist^{©John Gardner}. I mean, he's going to turn down the ability to control the whole population? Hell no. There'll be an EO soon nationalizing, aka confiscating, all the AI companies and putting Hegseth in control. Just you watch.