So, here’s the deal...

Let's catch up, shall we?

I’m going to post 500 words a day (more or less) for the next few (waves hands wildly) days, weeks, whatever.

I’ll be sharing things I’m paying attention to. Some tech, some politics, sometimes just really random yet interesting things.

For example, this was one of the most bonkers things I’ve ever read:

No Record of 'Russian Economist' Who Flew to LAX Without a Ticket, Didn't Remember How He Got Here

Last month, a Russian/Israeli dual national named Sergey Ochigava arrived at LAX airport in Los Angeles on a Scandinavian Airlines flight from Copenhagen with no passport and no record of him having been on the plane. ...

When interviewed by two FBI agents, Ochigava said he was a Russian economist who was not aware where he was: “Ochigava claimed he had not been sleeping for three days and did not understand what was going on. Ochigava stated he might have had a plane ticket to come to the United States, but he was not sure. Ochigava did not remember how he got on the plane in Copenhagen. Ochigava also would not explain how or when he got to Copenhagen or what he was doing there. When asked how he got through security in Copenhagen, Ochigava claimed he did not remember how he went through security without a ticket.”

Well, who among us...

Anyway, there’s a lot going on right now. One of the things that compelled me to start this newsletter a little over a year ago was Elon Musk’s takeover of the site formerly known as Twitter.

Back in the Before Elon times, if you wanted to know what I was working on or thinking about, you just checked my Twitter feed. Because I spent a LOT OF TIME on that site, I must confess. I think over the course of 15 years or so I posted something like a quarter-million tweets, which is A LOT.

My how things have changed.

It pains me to note how goddamn right I was about Elon Musk. His descent into unadulterated fascism has been breathtakingly steep and incontrovertible. (Did you hear that he’s letting Alex Jones back onto the site?) Anyway, he has broken the site formerly known as Twitter in ways that have allowed it to keep losing money without losing contact with the core audience of wannabe Nazis that he seems to identify with these days.

Which goes to explain why I’ve left Twitter for good. I don’t care what they call it now, it’s dead to me. I have a completely anonymous account that I use to visit every two or three days so I can check in with a handful of people I admire who still do battle on that increasingly hostile turf.

Of course, after reading this article I wonder whether Elon’s Frat House will be under new management this time next year. It reminded me that Schadenfreude is one of my favorite words.

Elon Musk's luck has finally run out

Musk started buying Twitter right as central banks around the world began hiking rates in an effort to combat inflation. That means the cost of servicing his debt is getting more expensive, making it harder for him to get new loans. It's a shift so dramatic that it could rip a hole in the universe through which Musk's reality collapses into our own.

[...]

Because of the way that Musk operates, the social-media company's troubles pose a threat to his whole business empire. Despite being the second-wealthiest person in the world, Musk is curiously cash poor. He doesn't take a salary from Tesla, and while he owns about 20% of the EV maker, public documents filed in March show that about 63% of those shares are "pledged as collateral to secure certain personal indebtedness." You know, like the private jets.

The whole thing is worth reading. Share your thoughts and ask questions in the comments.