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- What Is H A PP E NI N G
Hey?
… … … … Hey eve ryone?
What is
ha p p e n in g
tothenews? whatshappe
nin g. guys?
NEW: @Forbes layoffs announced today, the same day its union announced a 3-day walkout.
— Unclear how many impacted yet
— CEO Mike Federer said in a note to staff that Forbes “must remain vigilant in our current economic environment.”— Sara Fischer (@sarafischer)
Jan 25, 2024
These images are all links, you should go read them.
Hey… what????
If there’s ever been a worse week in media, I don’t remember it. It’s so bad that what qualifies as good news is stuff like: “Former Wikimedia Foundation Executive Ascends to Glass Cliff at NPR” and “Field & Stream will be relaunched by the country music guy that got caught yelling the N word a couple years ago.” In tech, we’ve got “Microsoft lays off 1,900 Activision Blizzard and Xbox employees,” and The Verge’s Mitchell Clark also rounded up the rest of the tech giants that have fired staff this month, which include Google, Discord, Twitch and Unity.
Well it has been a tough year, right? Economic headwinds? Here’s Jeff Cox at CNBC to explain why all of this is necessary:
The U.S. economy for all of 2023 accelerated at a 2.5% annualized pace, well ahead of the Wall Street outlook at the beginning of the year for few if any gains and better than the 1.9% increase in 2022…
“This year has been like Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots, and the economy is knocking the blocks off the economists, always outperforming,” said Dan North, senior economist with Allianz Trade Americas. Fed Chair Jerome Powell “has got to have a smirk on his face this morning. Again, he’s defying the economists’ predictions with strong growth and inflation clearly coming under control.”
This might sound like a weird question, but is the economy a bunch of fake bullshit?
Have you considered rizzing them up with a letter? 🤔
— U.S. Postal Service (@USPS)
Jan 24, 2024
The Seattle Times confirmed yesterday’s rumor about what happened to the plane, so it’s not going great for Boeing today. It seems like probably no one should fly on a 737 Max. How’s it going for the guy who got fired from Google for thinking its AI was sentient? He’s having kind of a weird time right now. Devin Gordon thought about how it’s going for Jon Stewart and The Daily Show now that Stewart’s back in the host chair part time and back in control of the show full time.
If this feels like a somewhat ignominious retreat for Stewart, a tail-between-the-legs moment after years in the wilderness, yes, that’s exactly what it is. He was only available for the job, of course, because Apple TV+ decided last autumn not to renew The Problem With Jon Stewart, his deeper-diving, more civic-minded follow-up. The problems with The Problem With Jon Stewart were legion, but the two fatal ones were that it wasn’t funny and no one watched it.
And Stewart only took that job after a lucrative multiyear deal with HBO came and went with not a single piece of content to show for it, and after writing and directing a political satire called Irresistible, starring his longtime Daily Show confederate Steve Carell, that moviegoers resisted quite easily.
Insert literally any Jon Stewart reaction gif here.
How’s it going in U.S. politics? You know how it’s going. Former Phoenix local TV news anchor and fucking lunatic Kari Lake recorded the state GOP chair trying to buying her off from running for Senate this year and then leaked the tape. The party chair promptly resigned with an all-timer of a press release in which he explained that he is resigning not because of what she leaked already, but because of what she is threatening to leak next if he doesn’t.
This morning, I was determined to fight for my position. However, a few hours ago, I received an ultimatum from Lake's team: resign today or face the release of a new, more damaging recording. I am truly unsure of its contents, but considering our numerous past open conversations as friends, I have decided not to take the risk. I am resigning as Lake requested, in the hope that she will honor her commitment to cease her attacks, allowing me to return to the business sector a field I find much more logical and prefer over politics.
“I don’t know exactly what she recorded but thinking back, I really said some shit, so I’m out.” Good stuff. Trump is back to making rocket noises like a three year old, and the only good news in media is Tom Scocca’s new politics column for Defector. He kicked it off today with some electoral ornithomancy, and you won’t be surprised to hear that the omens are bad.
if I ever opened a movie themed bar here’s one of the drink names I’d make: sex on the beach that makes you old
— archivist barbie 💌 (@daiquiriheiress)
Jan 25, 2024
Slate attempted to list the best thing to do for every hour of the day. I went to the gym at noon today and it was good, so good call there. Hot guy books, ranked. AI “George Carlin” special probably not even AI. I never thought not being made by AI could make something worse but here we are. “2014 Tumblr is back” reports journalist young enough for 2014 to be a meaningfully different time than now. Ol’ Knifey pops collective monocle at the idea of salt in tea. And here’s a spreadsheet of every ejection in baseball history. Tag yourself, I’m “Delay: lay down in OF during argument.” I just wanted a nap.
A Final Thought For the Week
@carlabezanson Keep this in mind #fyp #foryoupage
Today’s Song: Waxahatchee, "Right Back to It" (feat. MJ Lenderman)
I will be right back to it next week but I think I’m taking tomorrow off. Thanks Music Intern Sam and thanks once more to YES PLZ Coffee, for all the beans and all the support. Tonx does not owe us a crab tattoo, unfortunately, although I’ve been considering one myself so it might happen anyway.
A reader has contributed five more Bluesky codes, which I’ll just drop in here for everyone:
bsky-social-xbgsp-kqovv
bsky-social-7mukm-xco4a
bsky-social-c62l2-xqfwm
bsky-social-h2ud7-gfnsb
bsky-social-vqd7i-ej7yq
If you’re a paid subscriber and you’d like to get into Bluesky, pop into the Discord and ask for a code. There is no shortage of them.