Stephen Bates

U.S GDP grew at a at a 4.9 percent annual rate over the summer of 2024, and the Times reported this as 'unsustainable,' bad news for Joe Biden.

I think this was the key paragraph @mattbaidc.bsky.social

exit through gift shop

Are you ready for some football?

A man understandably refused to hand over his ID or get out of the car for a bunch of masked thugs who refused to identify themselves.

And when he drove away, they opened fire on him.

This isn’t how you do any sort of enforcement when your goal is to uphold the law. This is gangsterism.

Bert ran the block with a cold stare and a hot chain, Ernie riding shotgun in every hustle.

Bonus Podcast - The Failure of the Trump-Putin Summit A condensed overview of five hours of Fox News programming from "The Five" to "Hannity."

No paywall - this is free for anyone

decodingfoxnews.substack.com/p/bonus-podc...

Bribes, Backdoor Deals, and Pay to Play: How Bad Rosé Took Over A sommelier opens up about the shady business practices that are behind the rise of watery, terrible rosé.

"...but when it comes to rosé, sneaky deals like this have become par for the course as the wine becomes more and more popular. We call it pay to play, and it’s caused an outbreak of shitty rosé on wine lists everywhere."
www.bonappetit.com/story/rise-o...

Ernie’s stare lingered, and Bert’s cigarette shook as he tried to understand the fire curling in his chest.

Opinion | Caligula in the Hamptons

NYT: Hopefully no shortages of Rosé… (gift link)
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/16/o...

Why it’s time to consider shorts in the office It’s getting hotter — and men need to rethink the way they dress for work

Why it’s time to consider shorts in the office on.ft.com/4loKyKk

Ever since the summit was announced, Russian media has been replete with stories about special U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Dmitriev sharing fried dumplings at a restaurant in the Russian capital, and about the site of a future Moscow hotel, described as a possible Trump Tower Moscow, that the two men visited last week.

The stuff that, 15 years ago, would have been a screaming 72-point all-caps headline — and now appears in the sixth paragraph, almost as an aside

www.wsj.com/world/russia...

Why A Bunch Of Real Dicks Keep Throwing Fake Ones | Defector Every misogynist joke poses a question to its female audience: Can you laugh along? Will you be chill or are you going to make a big deal out of this? Are you going to be a bitch about it? Arriving in...

I find the dildo thing pretty appalling so I wrote a bit about why

Thanks Tom.

#defcon those were the good old days, eh?

Fairfax Co. schools superintendent to have up to 4-person security detail Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Michelle Reid will soon have a security detail that could include up to four full-time security staffers.

What horrid decisions or offensive statements would a FCPS school superintendent (salary $424,000) make that would warrant a 4 person security detail?
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wjla.com/features/i-t...

Migrants Vanish Into Opaque ICE Detention System Frequent long-distance moves leave families and lawyers struggling to keep track of people facing deportation—and undermine their legal defense.

WSJ gift link

Frequent transfers between detention centers, across the country or to multiple locations in a few days, have become commonplace, disappearing into a labyrinthine system.

www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...

Hegseth’s Headlong Pursuit of Academic Mediocrity His military-education reforms seem designed to ensure fighting men can’t think and thinking men can’t fight.

Hegseth "resigned from the Army National Guard at the lowly rank of major. The Army, unlike Princeton and Harvard, knew a petulant, insecure mediocrity when it saw one." #savage

My 2nd favorite veggie after asparagus. Thanks for this.

Zucchini With Shallots (Published 1990)

I know a lot of you have zucchini to spare this time of year. Here’s what the NYT says is the best way to serve it. Gift article. cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/9529...

Gabbard overrode CIA officials’ concerns in push to release classified Russia report CIA officials worried the release of the House Intelligence Committee report on 2016 Russian election interference could reveal top-secret spying techniques and sources. Tulsi Gabbard overrode their c...

JFC, Gabbard is such a shitbird. (gift link)

wapo.st/3Hmq8nl

🇺🇸 Today we're announcing an exciting partnership with the US gov: ChatGPT Enterprise will be available to the entire federal executive branch for the next 12 months, at just $1 per agency. | Kevi... 🇺🇸 Today we're announcing an exciting partnership with the US gov: ChatGPT Enterprise will be available to the entire federal executive branch for the next 12 months, at just $1 per agency. We're de...

ChatGPT Enterprise for Executive Branch for $1 per agency for next 12 months.

Hot off the presses…

That’s pretty aggressive loss leader pricing.

www.linkedin.com/posts/kevinw...

Doggies really hate it when you pull the bait and switch with the ball. "Omaha!" ~Peyton Manning

So Long to Tech’s Dream Job

NYT: SHUT UP AND GRIND! (Gift Link)

So Long to Tech’s Dream Job
It’s the shut up and grind era, tech workers said, as Apple, Google, Meta and other giants age into large bureaucracies.

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/t...

No change in status.

-paper route @ 7 kept it through 15
-regular lawn mowing gigs @ 9
-rode bike to school, camp, and all over creation @ 9
-rode bike to buy Mom cigs at store with permission note @ 8
-had own savings acct @ 9, rode my bike to bank to deposit earnings from paper route and lawn mowing

The list goes on.

💯.

US links $1.9 billion in state disaster funds to Israel boycott stance The Trump administration said states and cities will not receive funding to prepare for natural disasters if they choose to boycott Israeli companies, according to an agency statement.

NEW: US states and cities that do not support Israel will be denied federal disaster aid. [REUTERS]

Aid that will be halted includes federal money for search and rescue equipment and backup power systems.

What the closure of USAID is really costing the world The abrupt withdrawal of American funding has stranded millions of patients and will be felt by countries for years to come

“The richest man in the world killed the poorest people in the world simply because he was high and wanted to” - An actual fact.

Keep driving those teslas around, it’s not like you enabled him or anything

on.ft.com/4ojiRFJ What the closure of USAID is really costing the world