We’re not even a year into the second Pumpkinhead presidency and you already want to Scream. You Saw it coming and you’ve considered whether you should Get Out of the country (or at least root for the Canadian team in the World Series) as you witness Frankenstein’s re-animated political Psycho—along with the nonstop Creepshow from the Right of the Living Dead—orchestrate The Vanishing of our democratic norms. Are we as Hellbound as we feel? Will the constant Howling that has turned the news cycle into a Nightmare on Overwhelm Street from Dusk to Dawn ever offer us the respite of a Quiet Place? Or is that quiet we hear coming from the Silence of the Lambs who have long ignored The Omen and think this will all pass without a political Exorcism? It turns out you’re not the only who’s noticed an American Werewolf trying to turn our democracy into the Don of the Dead. The NYT Editorial Board (Gift Article) has a handy, if scary, horror-card. Are We Losing Our Democracy? “Countries that slide from democracy toward autocracy tend to follow similar patterns. To measure what is happening in the United States, the Times editorial board has compiled a list of 12 markers of democratic erosion, with help from scholars who have studied this phenomenon. The sobering reality is that the United States has regressed, to different degrees, on all 12.” (This Halloween, I thought about dressing up as the Constitution, but I was afraid no one would recognize me...) 2Snap Judgment“There is no doubt that the six billion dollars in contingency funds are appropriated funds that are without a doubt necessary to carry out the program’s operation. The shutdown of the government through funding doesn’t do away with SNAP. It just does away with the funding of it. There could be no greater necessity than the prohibition across the board of funds for the program’s operations.” Federal judge orders Trump administration to pay SNAP benefits out of contingency fund. Now, we’ll have to see if the administration actually pays out the money authorized by one branch of government and ordered released by another. After all, they’re the ones who came up with the idea of starving the poorest Americans to score political points. It took a federal judge to say families should still be fed. 3Crash and Learn?I keep writing about the AI tech boom (and potential bust) for a few reasons. One, like many other people, my stock portfolio has long been filled with tech heavy stocks (which makes me feel like a genius). Two, it’s a boom that is powering a remarkable portion of the American economy. And three, a lot about it worries me. “America appears to be, at the moment, in a sort of benevolent hostage situation. AI-related spending now contributes more to the nation’s GDP growth than all consumer spending combined, and by another calculation, those AI expenditures accounted for 92 percent of GDP growth during the first half of 2025. Since the launch of ChatGPT, in late 2022, the tech industry has gone from making up 22 percent of the value in the S&P 500 to roughly one-third.” Matteo Wong and Charlie Warzel in The Atlantic (Gift Article): Here’s How the AI Crash Happens. “Listen to the AI crowd talk enough, and you’ll get a sense that we may be on the cusp of an infrastructure boom. And yet, something strange is happening to the economy. Even as tech stocks have skyrocketed since 2022, the companies’ share of net profits from S&P 500 companies has hardly budged. Job openings have fallen despite a roaring stock market, 22 states are in or near a recession, and despite data centers propping up the construction industry, U.S. manufacturing is in decline. It’s clear that AI is both drowning out and obscuring other stories about the wobbling American economy. That’s a concern. But even worse: What if AI’s promise for American business proves to be a mirage? What happens then?” (For one thing, I’ll feel like less like a genius and more like a crash test dummy.) 4Weekend WhatsWhat to Binge: Dark Winds (with three seasons now on Netflix) “follows Joe Leaphorn, Jim Chee, and Bernadette Manuelito of the Navajo Tribal Police solving mysteries and serving justice as their reservation is besieged by a series of increasingly violent crimes in the 1970s.” Even though the crimes are violent, the pace and vibe of the show is calmingly chill. 5Extra, ExtraJust a Matter of Ven: “The Trump Administration has made the decision to attack military installations inside Venezuela and the strikes could come at any moment, sources with knowledge of the situation told the Miami Herald, as the U.S. prepares to initiate the next stage of its campaign against the Soles drug cartel.” And from WaPo: As U.S. ramps up the pressure, Venezuela pleads with Moscow, Beijing for help. 6Feel Good FridayThe world is experiencing a solar boom that has vastly outperformed expectations and tempered pessimism around climate change.
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Friday, October 31, 2025
The Democracy Chainsaw Massacre
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