America’s pivot

America’s pivot

Donald Trump’s tariff-centered push to remake who we are as a nation reminded me of something I’d seen before: a pivot. What is a pivot? In the world of startups, a pivot is radical decision to shift the strategic direction of a company, usually because the original strategy is just not resonating. You see this,…

Suppose Trump takes us to war. Who would be the enemy?

Suppose Trump takes us to war. Who would be the enemy?

The US economy, whipsawed by inflationary tariff threats and soon to absorb many laid off federal workers, may be headed for a recession. Mark Zandi of Moody’s Analytics now puts the odds of a recession soon at 35%, while J.P. Morgan Chase rates the likelihood as 40%. President Trump has admitted that a recession is…

American imperialism redux; Shifty AI models; Grammarian vs. errorist: Newsletter 8 January 2025
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American imperialism redux; Shifty AI models; Grammarian vs. errorist: Newsletter 8 January 2025

Newsletter 77. Toxic growth, journal editors resign, business novellas, three people to follow and three books to read. Bigger’s not better, for companies or countries Companies pursue size. If Donald Trump has his way, so will the United States of America. Observe what happens when companies get bigger and there are some relevant lessons. The…

Change is scary; writing with AI; presently helpful: Newsletter 11 December 2024
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Change is scary; writing with AI; presently helpful: Newsletter 11 December 2024

Newsletter 73. Change you can believe in is change you can understand, merry Christmas to booksellers, how to stump ChatGPT, plus three people to follow and three books to read. How change feels There are two kinds of change: change in what you do, and change in who you are. Both create uncertainty. But the…

The impact of the “What the f—?” moments in the Trump/Harris debate

The impact of the “What the f—?” moments in the Trump/Harris debate

All of us who watched the ABC News presidential debate this week shared an experience: a whole bunch of “What the fuck?” moments. These were statements made by the candidates that seemed, not just odd, but completely incendiary, implausible, and out of left field. So let’s evaluate what they said and just as important, was…

That photo of Trump and Epstein on a plane? If you really want to believe, it’s probably an AI fake.

That photo of Trump and Epstein on a plane? If you really want to believe, it’s probably an AI fake.

Multiple people on my timeline recently shared the photo of Donald Trump and famous pedophile Jeffrey Epstein on a plane, shown below, which is a fake: How do I know it’s fake? As soon as I saw this, I was suspicious. Why? Because while I’ve seen other photos of Trump and Epstein together — as…