Sleepless In America

@sleeplessinamerica

Unlike pandas, life isn’t black and white, so we need to live in the gray. Sometimes that means accepting or forgiving people for not always being perfect. No longer recommending archive.ph (archive.today) due to bad behavior. Looking for alternatives.

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Bluesky

Ist das dein Profil?Übernimm es — dann gehört dir sleeplessinamerica.dirty.social.Profil übernehmen

Sleepless In America@sleeplessinamerica· 7d

If you tried to script this, people would tell you it's too over-the-top.

Two Headlines from The New York Times (8/6/26):

(1)
Trump Issues Tariffs on Key Ingredient for Electronics and Solar Panels

The administration will impose a minimum import price for polysilicon, a key component for semiconductors and solar panels, as well as tariffs for products made with the material.

(2)
Trump Administration to Pay German Firm $1.2 Billion to Cancel Wind Leases

It was the fifth such deal struck by the administration to get companies to drop offshore wind projects.

Sleepless In America@sleeplessinamerica· 10d

I don't pay as much attention to the Iran-Israeli war as I should, but this floored me. This is what's been used in the war. What are we going to do if Russia invades Poland or China attacks Taiwan?

1,200 Patriot missiles out of an inventory of 2,330

More than 1,000 Tomahawk cruise missiles out of 3,000

More than 1,100 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, or JASSM, out of 4,400

40 to 70 Precision Strike Missiles out of 90

130 to 250 SM-3 missiles out of 410

90 to 370 SM-6 missiles out 1,160

190 to 290 Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, missiles out of 360

Sleepless In America@sleeplessinamerica· 11d

Maybe I'm a cynic, but I have to believe that this has only happened because he and Trump found another way to do it. The immunity deal is still in place, with no significant change. It's unlike anything ever offered by the IRS to anyone else. Don't be fooled into thinking they gave up anything.

The document released by Blanche on Sunday night also limits the scope of another provision of the settlement that provided broad immunity for Trump and members of his family from tax audits. It clarifies that the tax audit immunity agreement “applies only retroactively” to claims open at the time of the settlement and does not protect the president from examination of future tax filings.

Sleepless In America@sleeplessinamerica· 11d

As opposed to the typical light-hearted productions of "Death of a Salesman."

From The New York Times home page (8/2/26):

A 'Death of a Salesman' Edged in Darkness

Every Broadway production of "Death of a Salesman" has its distinguishing features. Will Loman's Chevrolet is a powerful character in the latest production.

Sleepless In America@sleeplessinamerica· 13d

And there it is. Trump and the DOJ know that they won't win the BS cases they bring against people, but they can put them through a process that will cost them financially and reputationally. Trump did this before being elected, too, knowing that he usually had more lawyers than his opponents did.

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TrumpNation#Lawsuit

In March 2016, O'Brien noted that only a few pages of the book revolved around Trump's net worth. O'Brien said that Trump's offense toward the net-worth claim was "a measure of his deep insecurity. His wealth and the size of his wealth ... are integral to how he wants people to perceive him." That month, Trump told The Washington Post, "I spent a couple of bucks on legal fees, and they spent a whole lot more. I did it to make his life miserable, which I'm happy about." Later that year, Trump said TrumpNation "was a zero book. That was a zero. That was total fiction."

Sleepless In America@sleeplessinamerica· 15d

So you think this program is lovingly preserving the rare and out-of-print books they process?

One small book seller said that in April, he suddenly went from selling no more than 20 books a week to hundreds, and he’s almost certain that the customers are AI labs, noting the random selection of the books and how they all have ISBNs. He added that his inventory is full with rare and out of print books, meaning that an AI company could be destroying some of the few remaining copies that can be found.

Sleepless In America@sleeplessinamerica· 16d

This is gonna make Elon Musk's head explode.

From The New York Times (7/29/26):

Matt Damon’s Biceps in That ‘Odyssey’ Fight Scene? They’re Hers.

Devyn Dalton, a 4-foot-6 woman, is the leading man’s stunt double in Christopher Nolan’s summer blockbuster.

Sleepless In America@sleeplessinamerica· 22d

I had missed the fact that Popehat had left Bluesky (it wasn't until I realized that I missed his posts that I figured it out). His explanation here is interesting, but I really appreciated this: "Elon Musk is autistic trillionaire Radio Rwanda." And the faux outrage about what he posted.

I find the pearl-clutching over this sentiment profoundly unpersuasive. The United States kills people who “need killing” all the time. We’re on a campaign of killing unidentified guys in boats in the Gulf of Dementia because the government claims they’re drug dealers. We execute lots of people, many of whom did what they were accused of, many of whom have IQs above 70. We shoot protesters. We shoot people on the very thin pretense that they were “threatening” police officers. We kill Iranians — military and civilians — and boast about how we’re going to kill more. We killed Yamamoto and it’s a good thing we did. We didn’t kill Hitler but we helped arrange the circumstances where he killed himself, and nobody shook a scolding little finger at anyone for wishing him dead. Our most popular Founding Father’s most popular quote is “the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

Sleepless In America@sleeplessinamerica· 29d

If Trump gets the networks to cover this substitution for his rallies, he's just going to demand time every week. His favorite part of the first term was hijacking the daily COVID briefings because they were covered live by all the networks.

In 2014, the Obama White House sounded out the networks about carrying a prime-time address on immigration and was told no. In 2022, the networks refused prime-time coverage of a speech Joe Biden delivered on democracy.

The question we must all put to these same networks today is this: Do they plan to provide valuable free airtime to a president who is going to systematically undermine democracy by lying about elections?

Sleepless In America@sleeplessinamerica· 29d

"In Camila’s case, her attorneys said in court filings that officials piled on unnecessary requirements and dragged out the process — as the young girl languished in federal custody." This is not an isolated example. We're still putting kids in cages, just slightly nicer cages.

Graph labeled "Average number of days the government held unaccompanied minors"

National data from October 2024 to April 2026.

Graph shows an average of about 25-30 days for the last 3 months of 2024. The average shoots up to 150-200 days for the months after 2024.

Sleepless In America@sleeplessinamerica· Jul 9

Platner bears the most responsibility. But self-important political operatives who envisioned themselves running a total unknown for President are also at fault. And people can't blindly ignore every. single. problem because they're infatuated with the candidate. We can't let this happen again.

For months, there was little indication that any of the controversy was seriously hurting his candidacy.

As Mr. Platner’s star rose through the winter and early spring, Mr. Katz was privately promoting him as a future presidential candidate for as soon as 2028, if he won his Senate bid.

When Janet Mills, his chief Democratic primary opponent, produced tough ads featuring his comments about women and rape, it did little to change the trajectory of the race. Poll after poll showed Mr. Platner leading Ms. Mills, a two-term governor who was supported by national Democratic leaders, by double-digits.

Sleepless In America@sleeplessinamerica· Jul 7

For those asking for alt-text:

While I’m assigning blame, I shouldn’t leave out myself. Last October, when stories about Platner’s tattoo and Reddit posts first broke, I went to Maine to write about him. I tried to convey what I saw: a campaign that was electrifying angry Maine voters. But I deeply regret that, impressed by Platner’s political charisma, I wrote that he was “nothing like the edgelord caricature I encountered online.” If anything, he seems to be significantly worse.

One person who tried to alert Democrats was Platner’s former political director, Genevieve McDonald. She quit when the first Platner scandals emerged and has been increasingly outspoken against him. Progressive operatives made her seem like a vindictive person eager to curry favor with Maine’s political establishment. In retrospect, she looks much more like someone who took a profound professional risk to do the right thing. I can’t be the only one who regrets not taking her more seriously.

Sleepless In America@sleeplessinamerica· Jul 6

Guess he's hoping this will keep him out of jail. It might just work.

Column headline from The Washington Post (7/6/26):

John Bolton: To save NATO, smile and thank Trump

The leaders’ collective top priority for the Ankara summit: Do no harm.

Sleepless In America@sleeplessinamerica· Jul 6

At least they're not proud of what they're doing. Like cockroaches hiding from the light.

ProPublica analyzed over two decades of Supreme Court rulings, which cover all of the years under Chief Justice John Roberts and go as far back as the online archives allow. We found that when the last court term ended, justices had issued 63 orders on the shadow docket, as opposed to 56 orders on the more traditional merits docket — where the court hears oral arguments scheduled months in advance and the justices issue signed opinions.

Sleepless In America@sleeplessinamerica· Jul 3

Of course, if there were arrangements to share cardholders’ data with Freedom 250, it's not like they'd tell us.

Sleepless In America@sleeplessinamerica· Jul 2

Again, please remember how the Biden/Harris's handling of the economy was presented in 2023-2024. Biden was never credited with "steady gains."

Headline and graph from The New York times (7/2/26):

U.S. Job Market Makes Slower but Steady Gains

Employers added fewer jobs in June than a month earlier but the unemployment rate ticked down, a decent showing for the U.S. economy.

(Graph shows much better growth before 2025 than after)

Sleepless In America@sleeplessinamerica· Jun 30

You know who would really find this type of list useful? Putin. Kim Jong Un. Xi Jinping. We can't be sure Trump would turn such a list over to them. He might just post it on Truth Social.

Some current and former intelligence officials fear that assembling identifying details about some of the most sensitive cases may fatally compromise long-running intelligence investigations and operations. The identities of those targets are carefully protected secrets, walled off from most personnel even inside their own agencies.

Sleepless In America@sleeplessinamerica· Jun 29

"Worst of the worst."

The nun is part of the Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy and volunteered as an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion at Our Lady of Sorrows Church, according to Brenda Riojas, a spokesperson for the Diocese of Brownsville.

Ugboaja is also a registered nurse at South Texas Health System and worked previously for 10 years as a certified nursing assistant at DHR Health in Edinburg, Riojas confirmed.

Sleepless In America@sleeplessinamerica· Jun 29

"And if you’re ever out of cell range, good luck. No audio for you, period. Good luck if you’re somewhere off the grid or there’s some kind of emergency when cell service goes down." Don't arrange your life (cars, home, anything) so that you are unable to function without paying a subscription fee.

Now some manufacturers want us to move away from free radio to subscriptions-based listening for all news and entertainment. This would not just generate a new source of income, but it will cut costs of making infotainment systems.

Sleepless In America@sleeplessinamerica· Jun 28

I really recommend that you read this. DOGE isn't gone. It's wormed its way into the government infrastructure like termites. They will bring the whole thing down.

What this office is doing is taking the parts of the federal government that touch you directly, your prescription, your voter registration, your passport, your federal login, out of the agencies that legally own them and rebuilding them on White House infrastructure. Vote.gov belongs to the Election Assistance Commission, and the studio built a copy. Passports belong to the State Department, and the studio is building a replacement this week. Login.gov belonged to GSA, and the studio’s guy runs it now.

Sleepless In America@sleeplessinamerica· Jun 26

(In his best Emily Litella voice) "Oh. Never mind."

What caused the hissy fit? Did Sotomayor really fail to tell him she would have an oral dissent? That really would have been a breach of the court's practices. A justice typically notifies the chief justice and the author of the majority opinion in writing if there is to be an oral dissent.

In response Friday to an inquiry from NPR came this terse statement from the court's public information office.

"Justice Alito was notified in advance by Justice Sotomayor's chambers that she would be reading a dissent from the bench. It was a misunderstanding on Justice Alito's part."

Sleepless In America@sleeplessinamerica· Jun 25

He doesn't like some of those colors. I've circled his favorites.

Sleepless In America@sleeplessinamerica· Jun 23

Many great lessons here: - Remote work from home is a god-send - Diverse workforces that include new mothers who are juggling childcare with their jobs might save your multi-million dollar project - Always double-check whether you are about to do something really stupid before you hit "Enter."

All that mattered was salvaging the film and making absolutely sure this wouldn’t happen again.

The second thing that Susman and Jacob remember is sprinting out of the meeting—because they realized that she had a backup of “Toy Story 2” at home.

As it happens, Susman also had a baby named Eli at home. While she was pregnant, she built her own work-from-home setup long before working from home was part of the job. Once a week after her parental leave, she lugged the hulking computer to the office and downloaded the latest version of the film so she could keep working after bedtime.

Which meant the only known backup of “Toy Story 2” anywhere in the galaxy was sitting in her house.

Sleepless In America@sleeplessinamerica· Jun 22

This article was amazing and depressing. We're not that far away from throwing these people to the lions for entertainment.

You’ve likely never heard of Fishtank and may be tempted to brush it off as fringe—an unwell collective of sadists, masochists, and exhibitionists throwing simultaneous tantrums on a remote frontier of the internet. That may be true, but the show is drawing nearer to the mainstream with each passing day. With more than 500,000 people regularly watching the most recent seasons, producers claim the show is worth more than $30 million; their budget is less than a million. The show has been landing increasing numbers of corporate sponsors, including Sticker Mule and Backyard Butchers. Bam Margera, from Jackass, hosted the latest season, and Joe Rogan noted on his podcast that the show, while shocking, differs from conventional reality TV only in degree, not in kind. “Isn’t it funny,” he mused, “The Real World is OK because they’re only mildly mentally ill?”

Sleepless In America@sleeplessinamerica· Jun 19

Supporting local news (newspaper, public radio station) is a really effective way to make things better for you, your neighbors, and your community. For a few dollars, you'll have more impact than donations to national politicians.

When there are fewer journalists, the portion of coverage devoted to crime actually goes up. In counties with fewer than five LJEs per 100,000 residents, nearly one in five local articles about crime and justice, roughly 50% more than in counties with higher journalist density.

The financial cost is measurable. States with fewer local journalists face estimated municipal borrowing costs roughly 17% higher than average, part of what new research estimates as at least $1.1 billion in annual financial harm to communities nationwide.

Where journalism is stronger, civic participation is higher. Counties in the bottom fifth for journalist density score an average of 40 on the Civic Participation Index—a composite measure of voter turnout, volunteering, charitable giving and civic involvement—compared to 58 in the top fifth. In double-desert counties—places with both less than one Local Journalist Equivalent per 100,000 residents and, according to the landmark Local News Initiative at Northwestern University’s Medill School, zero local news outlets—the average falls to 23 out of 100.

Sleepless In America@sleeplessinamerica· Jun 18

This part of the US-Iran MOU hasn't been mentioned much, if at all. We're all saying we're going to pay Iran $300 billion (Trump denies it, but of course he's a liar). But note the language below--we could be on the hook for a lot more. (Why would any "regional partners" pay for our war?)

The United States of America undertakes with regional partners to develop a definitive, mutually agreed plan with at least U.S.D. 300 billion for the reconstruction and economic development of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The mechanism for the implementation of this plan will be finalized as part of a final deal within 60 days. All required licenses, waivers and permissions needed for the relevant financial transactions will be granted by the United States of America.

Sleepless In America@sleeplessinamerica· Jun 18

This is more information than you need to provide to buy a gun.

Late last month, the FCC released a proposal for a new rule that would implement know-your-customer requirements for cellular networks, requiring that cellular providers “at a minimum, obtain and retain the name, physical address, government issued identification number, and an alternate telephone number of any new and renewing customer before granting access to its services.” The proposal is described as a measure akin to money-laundering laws designed to make it more difficult for scammers to exploit the phone networks. But privacy advocates argue it also threatens a last conduit of anonymity for those seeking to evade phone surveillance—whether that’s journalists, whistleblowers, activists, or simply people seeking to avoid mass data collection in yet another facet of their communications.

Sleepless In America@sleeplessinamerica· Jun 17

The Quest. I think it ran for about 10 episodes. (IMDB says 15. Who knew?)

Sleepless In America@sleeplessinamerica· Jun 11

Think how much good you could do with $558 million. Probably more net good than you could accomplish in government. And people would love you.

Sleepless In America@sleeplessinamerica· Jun 11

I wasn't familiar with the post this one refers to, but it is a really great way to help someone who just doesn't see it that they have "privilege," even when they don't feel privileged. From the original post: