All the crap you never needed

January 26 2024 Besties body shame Phil Helmuth and mock his fashion sense Markets going up SP 500 up Gas prices down Consumer sentiment positive Counter BTFP ending in March China negative economic signals National debt and debt service are out of control Media job cuts Business Insider, LA Times did lots of layoffs, Conde Nast Sports Illustrated, Pitchfork, etc are in trouble Bill Ackman (virtually) sticking the knife in People prefer experts going direct instead of random media Google trends shows Twitter is doing quite well for the mainstream If you don’t have a strong personality at the center of your publication, you have to lie or make up stuff or toe the party line, so there’s a glut of outlets doing the same thing Gellman amnesia effect starting to wear off - people are realizing that they are not telling the truth Immigration and Border Crisis Texas vs Federal government Border security is removing barbed wire Mayor Eric Adams of NY i...

January 19 2024 WEF Parody Oh Davos Kumbaya Jason with killer beats Davos not so cool anymore Earlier people would flex it, now apologize for it People fly in on private jets and tell people to stop consuming carbon They eat rich stuff and tell people to stop consuming Only things that became serious and went viral were Milei’s speech and Jamie Dimon’s comments (including saying Trump was mostly right) Milei Says in front of Klaus Schwab and others that collectivist spirit is to blame and extolled capitalism Dimon Said like Chamath that Trump was right on NATO, immigration, tax reform, mostly on China, might not like how he said things and his policies were largely sound and only look better since we abandoned them Davos was about high status, now its not useful anymore Its a glorified enterprise software sales conference - basically allows you to close very big deals because leaders of counter party are there too to get a deal done - pay $40K per ticket to get...

January 13 2024 Friedberg shooting hoops US and allies attack Houthis Fired rockets Conflict in the middle east escalating - will result in war with Iran 😟 Big alliance - so Iran will be careful if they want to escalate China being affected or not - their ships are not being attacked, but their containers are on other ships that are being attacked This affects Europe and also China What is the need for the US to really get involved Wag the Dog reference - you start a war for the political benefits instead of necessity Are they deflecting from domestic struggles (non-Biden candidates doing well like Dean Phillips, some Republicans, etc)? American people might be exhausted by wars but media propagandizes for wars and rams it down people’s throats This might make the administration look good But they are so incompetent that they apparently couldn’t even find the Secretary of Defense - Lloyd Austin (having some health issues) Market data is mixed Inflation might be ...

January 5 2024 Friedberg bought radiation suits for his family and dogs Predictions! Biggest Political Winner Sacks Vladimir Putin - turned it around in 2023, stabilized his economy, gained upper hand militarily in Ukraine, will consolidate gains in Ukraine, US media’s stalemate narrative will be exposed as a lie, Russia will win the war - he will become more influential throughout the global south - he will be seen as a conquering hero Argentina said they will not join BRICS (Javier Milei is very pro american, pro Israel) - might be a one-off or a trend, TBD West made Putin a victor by plunging into a war without knowing what we were doing The global south will use Russia as a proxy to reject American authority (see Fiona Hill article) Last year said Asian American candidates will win Affirmative Action ruling - got it right Big mistake by Biden to antagonize Saudis but see how Putin was welcomed royally Friedberg Independent political party 1992 Ross Perot got 19-20...

December 29 2023 Chamath back as BIPOC - Billionaire-Person of Color 2023 Bestie Awards Politics Biggest Winner Chamath was long Nikki Haley and short DeSantis - worked Chamath says it was actually Trump - will run away with Republican nomination Friedberg Said it would be Saudi and MBS Still says they are the winners - they are in the middle of all the big powers Sacks Abortion rights are the biggest winner - they are winning every ballot where they are the referendum Jason Non-traditional candidates like RFK Jr, Vivek, Dean Phillips Had said Trump Biggest Loser Friedberg DEI movement DEI support for Hamas defending freedom of speech rules for anti-semitic protests - unmaked anti-semitism hid in oppressor-oppressed ideology Lot of folks now distance themselves from DEI Sacks Volodymyr Zelenskyy Time magazine itself agrees after crowning him person of the year before that European leaders turning their backs on him Chamath Biden but agrees with...

December 22 2023 Chamath takes over the Pod JCal feeling bad Sacks holiday party was huge AllinHug Red Sea trade disruption Houthi One of the world’s busiest trade routes disrupted Ryan Petersen brought in 30% of containers disrupted Mostly from Asia to Europe - so they are hit 20-25% cut in shipping capacity basically This has been a big choke point for 1000s of years Rebel forces in Yemen have been launching attacks at the ships Can’t operate a ship without insurance - insurance companies won’t insure you 3x increase in ocean freight price from Asia to Europe Suez Canal is too valuable to modern civilization to allow a group of rebels to hurt it for too long This is a Shia group that is very powerful in Yemen - not internationally recognized but have agency and control vast parts of the country Is this related to apparent ~80 attacks on US bases in the region in the last few months? US might take military action as part of Operation Prosperity Guardian ...