I hope everyone had fun watching the Benito Bowl
Things I'm thinking about 2/10/26
Toñita at the Super Bowl! New York City is everywhere. I live relatively close to Caribbean Social Club, and it’s such a great institution. The drinks are cheap and cash only, the music is always perfect, and the bright fluorescent lighting really adds to the ambience. I hope it lasts forever.
Toñita with Antonio Reynoso, who wants everyone to know he would NEVER run a negative campaign. The pettiness on display in this interview is really funny and also entirely unbecoming for a politician who wants to represent an incredibly diverse and politically savvy district. As an NY-7 voter I would prefer that Reynoso not insult everyone’s intelligence in trying to have it both ways, and be honest about what he wants to do and what he’s willing to ignore. I was there at the DSA endorsement forum where he said he would be open to real estate money. This is a changing district, it’s true, and a lot of Los Sures’ Dominican and Puerto Rican community has been priced out. If I were a politician who wanted to claim their mantle, perhaps I wouldn’t accept funding from the industry that displaced the community in the first place.
I missed this, but Council Member Julie Won just filed to run in New York’s 7th Congressional District. I think this could kind of be good for DSA’s prospects in NY-7, splitting the left-liberal vote between Won in the Queens parts of the district and Reynoso in the Brooklyn parts of the district.
The DC Abortion Fund is looking for volunteer case managers. If you read the news every day and feel lost and unsure of what to do in this horrible moment, consider applying to become a case manager! Abortion funds save lives, and DCAF is entirely volunteer-run so your efforts actually do make a difference. It’s a time commitment of about 10-15 hours a month, which I think is doable for most people.
A lot of people who were at the Super Bowl on Sunday got there on a private jet. I don’t think the NFL would have to work quite so hard to win over international audiences if it was possible for Americans who aren’t wealthy to be able to watch the game. The day before the Super Bowl, the average going rate for a resale ticket was around $4,000.
Meanwhile, Cuba is out of jet fuel. Starting today until March 11, jet fuel will not be available at nine of Cuba’s airports, as the U.S. blockade on Cuba has created a severe fuel crisis.
Gretchen Whitmer is doing some of the most shameless pandering I’ve seen a Democratic politician do in some time. I don’t know if she’s thinking about running for president or what, but it’s so like the Democrats to decide that what we need in these trying times is a tax credit for geriatric homeowners. I wonder what they’ll do when confronted with the fact that boomers, like all old people before them, are mortal, but maybe we won’t have a democracy by then to be worried about.
The Democratic Socialists of America now have 100,000 members. Here is a perhaps audacious prediction: I think they can double this number by 2028 IF (big if) they lean into making socialism cool. Cultural capital isn’t a substitute for organizing, but we are in an emergency and juicing those numbers in the short term can only help build a base in the long term. I’m sorry to say that everyone’s DSA tweets are not helping. I’ve never been convinced of the argument that angry and spiteful tweets are a sign of a healthy internal democracy—people obviously want to complain for the sake of complaining, there’s no need to intellectualize it. I’m certainly guilty of it too, but a bit of public discretion would go a long way.
I enjoyed this article about “AI gap” relationships. “Most conflicts about AI are not actually about technology. They are about safety, relevance, autonomy, and closeness.” Speaking personally, I think I would be open to dating someone who is more optimistic about AI than I am, but probably not if they’ve outsourced their entire life to ChatGPT. It’s probably a good idea to consider whether someone you’re interested in has a similar relationship to privacy as you.
San Francisco’s teachers are on strike for the first time in nearly 50 years! Negotiations between the teachers union and the city have been going on for nearly a year. Despite all the new money that’s come into San Francisco over the last few years, the city’s teachers have some of the lowest contributions to their healthcare plans in the region. They’re asking for a 9 percent raise over two years.
Uber is preparing for the World Cup by installing payment kiosks at airports and hotels. I would imagine the average international soccer fan traveling to the U.S. for the World Cup will experience two different culture shocks: one, just how bad NJ Transit is, and also just how expensive Ubers are in New York. A year ago I got a pop-up on the NJ Transit app asking me whether I was excited for the World Cup. I am not excited for the world to experience our infrastructure failures firsthand!
This quarter, investors are pouring money into anything but tech. I am pretty interested in how Wall Street is more AI-skeptical than one would assume, because I feel like one of the most defining themes of Trump’s America is that different factions of capital actually have wildly differing interests. I suppose bankers have a vested interest in stability. The banks have always been notoriously slow at adopting new technology, so that’s also probably part of it.
Long live the worldwide Latina belt. I’ve seen a lot of speculation as to whether there is an “Asian Bad Bunny”. The people yearn for Punjabi music! Now that Zohran is the mayor, anything is possible.
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