Friday, October 4: Most Expensive Midterm Ever
We're all just gonna act like billionaires buying elections is normal now?
Shoutout to billionaires, the unsung heroes of our democratic project.They’ve helped finance the most expensive midterms ever, with total spending projected to reach ~$16.7 billion.
Just think for a moment of all the good that could be done with 16 and a half billion dollars (even in today’s economy). Understand that instead of spending money feeding people or housing people or educating people or trying to help society in any conceivable way, the vast majority of this money is going toward TV and radio ads endorsing smooth-brained former football stars and glossy former news anchors.
Such a pity.
Side Items
Twitter Issues, Courtesy of Name Redacted: Fresh off of his $44 billion purchase of the social media app, a certain unnamed wealthy aquatic creature has announced mass layoffs at the company. Twitter employees were notified this week via email that layoffs were set to begin today, as the company continues to desperately search for a path to economic viability. God only knows what that app will look like a year from now
Kyrie Irving DNP (anti-semitism?): Kyrie Irving finally faced some consequences for his recently publicized strange and problematic views on God’s true chosen people, as the Brooklyn Nets suspended him for a minimum of five games. Seems like kind of a silly topic to spout uninformed conspiratorial nonsense on camera about, but he did finally apologize today. Though not before the Anti-Defamation League could reject his half million dollar donation
Actual Problems: While the US sports media has been lost in all the talk about Kyrie Irving’s unintelligible galaxy-brain ramblings, Israel elected the most extreme and far-right government in its young problematic history. I almost laughed at this passage, courtesy of the New York Times:
His (Netanyahu’s) decision this time to ally only with far right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties, unrestrained by any centrist forces, takes Israel into unmapped territory. It remains to be seen whether that frees Mr. Netanyahu to follow the agenda of his far-right allies, or if it forces him to act as a brake on their most extreme excesses.
Bad news for anyone expecting an Israeli leader with unresolved corruption charges to act as any sort of brake on extreme excesses.