Trouble Me

The “class warfare” rhetoric is dripping with transparent anxiety over just how badly the people they’ve exploited for their wealth are hurting.

A tree with bright red/orange leaves, very full, in the front yard of a house that is only slightly visible in the corner. The sky is bright blue with puffy clouds. In the background there are other trees and shrubs with bare branches and fewer leaves that look like they turned at least a couple weeks ago.

I love how all the trees are on their own schedule. Most of the trees on the street have lost most of their leaves, party’s over, then this one shows up in a flame of color like, I’m ready, turn the music up!

What’s so telling to me about the scare line “the wealthy will leave” is not the obvious greed in their aversion to contribute to the greater good w/tax, but the assertion that their obscene wealth is somehow necessary, like its presence is a public service we don’t appreciate. Which, lol.

New York millionaires: threatening to flee the city since 2009

While it is hard to know what Jackson's thinking was in issuing the order, it is possible that the rush of the litigation and the cost involved led her to want to just give a pause to let the process work its way through. But, it is also important to note that, procedurally, had she denied the request, the Justice Department could have gone to another justice. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, by issuing the order herself, she was able to set the limits.

I know: What?

We don’t know, but here are some thoughts. www.lawdork.com/p/trump-admi...

Flaws and glitches are minor concerns easily dismissed. Being “mid” is fine because someone can promise this will get less mid and plenty of people are willing to believe. GenAI isn’t mid. It’s linear algebraic sociopathy.

You do an incredible job and service.

And now the internet asks itself the eternal question, how many sandwich puns is too many sandwich puns?

Bad AI supplanting human expertise is an issue that transcends any one field, but man—not many people on earth whose knowledge and dedication deserves respect like LIBRARIANS.

Truly a day for celebration on multiple fronts. Happy Birthday!

People who are leaving NYC, please post pix of your U-Hauls!

X Post by Michael Adams, Kentucky Secretary of State: "We’re getting calls about polls being closed. They are closed because we do not have elections today. Kentucky votes next year. You cannot vote today in Kentucky for the mayor of New York City or the Governor of Virginia. Sorry."

What happens when you distill 2025 into a single social media post?

This.

This is what you get.

The failure of the “blue no matter who” crowd to rally behind Mamdani really just lays the reality of that position bare, doesn’t it?

Presidential Crimes - Boston Review Torture must be addressed through legal instruments, not simply through the electoral repudiation of bad policy.

“The incalculable damage left by Bush and Cheney’s day-in-and-day-out contempt for national and international law includes the power to sweep forward in time and trivialize into a matter of personal preference any future president’s adherence to the law.“

Elaine Scarry in 2008:

Rent freeze for rent stabilized apts (+focus on more affordable housing)
Faster and free buses
City-run grocery stores
(bonus - universal childcare)

I live in W. Mass but was born & lived in nyc on and off for many yrs, through some awful mayors. Love to see the city vote for s’one who cares!

August 2025 @teenvogue.com: We're honored to get this award for "reporting on our democracy."

November 2025 @teenvogue.com: We have fired all of our staffers who report on our democracy.

I started donating recently as I increasingly come to understand how the human labor that goes into it is threatened by the massive machine-generated slop being shoved down our throats.

I cackled at “peer review deez nutz”

NYC is going to have the world's biggest media-manufactured crime panic in history the second Mamdani is elected. They aren't even going to wait until he is inaugurated. Whether or not you like the guy, you need to start preparing now for the fire hose of disinformation that is about to activate.

I had no trick or treaters in my last house bc we were on top of a steep hill and they all stayed on the streets below us. I always wanted them and have moved to a street that shuts to traffic. Had roughly 1000 tonight. Super fun but I’d take a middle ground.

Totally. And I think most of the homes on this street can afford it - but the actual giving out of the candy is a serious job.

I had to get pretty stingy at the end with one little piece of candy at a time to drag it out.

I noticed more than half the houses stayed dark this year when it used to be that almost every house gave out candy. I think the numbers are just more than a lot of people can handle. But it was fun and the little kids are adorable.

They block the traffic on our street and come from Springfield and Holyoke and all around. We’re one of “the” Halloween streets in town.

It is over the top. They were literally lined up on my walkway and down the sidewalk without break. I don’t even get a chance to look at their costumes bc it’s just a massive crush of bodies.

Mine went to a friend’s house to hang out and sleep over. Not trick or treating. I think I sprained my wrist from holding heavy bowls of candy for hours straight. Did your little hand fun? What did she dress as?

A street at night with crowds of costume wearing trick or treaters along the road. A small groups of kids in costume stand under the street light.

The front entrance of a house decorated with orange lights and flying ghosts projected onto the side of the house. The door is open and you can see a little old lady (my mom!) down the hall through the front door, which is open.

View of the street and the house. I didn’t get a good pic of the crowds bc I was rarely able to get up from my front porch. There was a line to my door about 30 ppl thick steadily for ages.

Update: I did run out of treats, but only at the very end and well after most of the houses around me had shut down. There were certainly still trick-or-treaters out there but I made it to 8 pm and they reopened our street to cars, so…. Calling it a success.

A table with five bowls and a basket of candy and mini-bags of chips, surrounded by additional boxes full of mini-bags of chips and popcorn.

Last year we had roughly 1000 trick-or-treaters. I’m not sure I’m stocked adequately this year. The staging area.

Xiao Zhan as Wei Wuxian sitting in the window of an inn, drinking.

Xiao Zhan as Wei Wuxian, side profile looking to the right.

Close up of Xiao Zhan as Wei Wuxian, removing his Mo Xuanyu mask.

Xiao Zhan as Wei Wuxian, behind the scenes with Jiang Yiting as Wen Yuan. They are both in costume & looking at a kids' book.

Samhain greetings to all & HBD to my favorite Ancient Chinese necromancer, 魏无羡, Wei Wuxian!