Ha, @bcdreyer.social

Faced with symmetrical but opposing issues, with a democratic president stopping support for some republican preference—like unlimited funds for border police—and the court would come down like bricks.

Of course it did. This Supreme Court is Calvin ball all the way down.

Well, this isn’t good:

Hey Nairobi Uber users, drivers are now claiming to pick you up and drop you off—without ever showing up. Beware Uber and start using other ride apps.

Including all my zippers. ( I just checked.)
This is what they invented the word gobsmacked for.

The enemy of your enemy doesn’t have to be your friend! It can also be your enemy!

Wait Mexico now? What about Venezuela? And Nigeria? And wasn’t Canada first?

Your helpful reminder that it is possible to hate more than one set of people, even if they hate each other.

There’s a whole dissertation to be written here, on labor in Africa, etc. perhaps all moot in a decade with driverless cars?

Uber on strike here in Nairobi. They pay 23% commission on rides. And 16% tax. So tor each 100 shillings they’re earning 61.
My last uber driver makes about 3,000 shillings a day, for a 13-14 hour day. That’s $23.

I’m not voting for any democratic nominee who doesn’t promise to tear down the Trump ballroom the second they are sworn in.

Tanzanian deaths getting bottom A12 coverage in the press. Would we expect different? @nytimes.com

The marines are gonna storm the beaches at Lagos and be asked for bribes, then get stuck in a go-slow while the Nigerians swarm them hawking authentic “tribal” masks manufactured in China. Eventually a few marines will come home with Yoruba brides and everyone will be happy.

Guns blazing in Nigeria? Really? The marines will get stuck in the Lagos airport fending off Rolex sellers.
By this time tomorrow the Nigerian Tik Tok comedy community will have 1000 videos up.

Sport as Brownian motion. vm.tiktok.com/ZMAs3CPvH/

We need some clarity. NYT is reporting 10 dead

Tanzania: NYT says 10 dead, BBC reports 100s.

World’s two worst writers: Ocean Vuong (on earth briefly gorgeous) and Robert Waller (Bridges of Madison county).
Bad.
Like Emily in Paris bad.

Inside the Heist That Shocked the World

Good bit but still so many questions. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/30/w...

Wait now they’re calling it a “furniture lift”?

Man, one guy who does not need any defense from me is Bill Gates. But I read his comments. It’s an almost willful, gleeful misconstruing to accuse him of minimizing climate change.

Cheat sheet Nairobi Nairobi cheat sheet, updated 2025 A very modern sophisticated city. Has everything. Movies, museums, ice rink with hockey teams, every kind of restaurant, national park with animals (but no elephants)...

I wrote notes on Nairobi, my adopted hometown, for my interns a couple of years ago. May be of interest, esp to young newcomers to town docs.google.com/document/d/1...

I’m afraid I’m going to keep posting here because there’s no general place to complain. I need to cancel my subscription but you put my in a doom circle where I can’t.

Leading again to this:

They could turn the Louvre trial into an even bigger circus by making it about reparations.

My quarrel with gates is this: why does he think technology will transform African agriculture this time around, when it clearly failed to during the agricultural revolution that happened every where else in the 20th century?

Seeing a lot of posts here claiming Gates is downplaying importance of climate change. That’s a misread. What he said s that he’ll be focusing on helping poor farmers in poor countries adapt better. Here, judge yourself: www.gatesnotes.com/helping-the-...

What the times call for is a politician of convictions and principles, the opposite of what they’ve been feeding us for decades.

A lot of posts up criticizing Bill Gates’ decision to spend more on climate adaption than mitigation. I think misguided. His piece simply argues we should help desperately poor farmers in poor countries, who will be catastrophically hurt by CC. Judge for yourself www.gatesnotes.com/helping-the-...