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After school in the 1970s, I’d often stop by my friend RD’s house where we’d sit on stools at a counter and eat cereal while watching shows like MASH, All in the Family, and The Six Million Dollar Man on a rabbit-earred TV. RD’s mom allowed sugary cereals in the house while my protein-obsessed Jewish mother made me put a couple scoops of Wheat Germ on my Shredded Wheat, so I consumed as many bowls as I could. It never occurred to either of us, even during commercial breaks, that we may have been budding members of America’s greatest generation. And even looking back now, I’m still not sure we were. If anything, I think of us as the crossover generation: the people who grew up without the internet but who were young enough to become fluent users and creators. When you go online today, is it any wonder there’s some nostalgia for the before times? Amanda Fortini in the NYT: Is Gen X Actually the Greatest Generation? “How did a generation that gets stereotyped as slackers turn out to be a far more important group of artists than they were initially given credit for? Why does their work — their music, books, films, television shows, even their magazines — continue to resonate? As I looked at their cultural contributions and spoke to the artists, actors and writers who shaped the Gen X canon (at least those who would speak with me, since Gen X is nothing if not conflicted about the spotlight), I began to think that their upbringing, no matter how arduous it was to live through at the time, might also have provided the ideal conditions for making art.” (It would take some overly positive, Six Million Dollar Man-level historical revisionism to boost GenX to GreatestGen—we can rebuild it ... better than it was before. But our generation definitely kicked some cultural ass.) To close the loop, it’s probably worth noting that, as he often does, RD proofread this blurb before I sent it out—and these days, his breakfast of choice usually includes multiple heaps of pure psyllium husk stirred into a glass of water. Meanwhile, I have extremely high glucose numbers, my doctor doesn’t really let me eat any kind of cereal, and protein-fortified products are lining grocery store shelves across America. My mom was right. That’s just one of the reasons I still think she was part of the actual greatest generation.
2
Hitting Foggy Bottom
Buck-passing Pete Hegseth argued that he “did not personally see survivors” on the boat that was victim of the now infamous second strike. “The thing was on fire. It exploded, there’s fire, there’s smoke. This is called the fog of war.” He’s close. But it’s not the fog of war. It’s the fog machine of lies. The justification for any strikes in the first place. The need for a second strike. Hegseth’s knowledge of the second strike. It’s lie upon lie upon lie from a Pentagon shamed by an incompetent and terrible person cosplaying as its leader. Trump slept through much of the cabinet meeting, but he woke up long enough to help Hegseth to throw Adm. Frank M. Bradley under the MAGA bus. (I’m not sure Trump is enough of a reader to have noticed the typo on Hegseth’s name card, but man, The SSecretary of War is really doing a lot of work.) NYT (Gift Article): After Decades in Combat, a SEAL Suddenly Comes Under Scrutiny. “He has become a public example of the potential legal peril that the American military faces as it carries out the orders of President Trump and his defense secretary.”
+ Meanwhile, Pentagon’s Signalgate review finds Pete Hegseth violated military regulations. (This finding, along with the highly unusual leak about the second strike, strongly suggests that Hegseth is about as popular in the Pentagon as he is in this newsletter.)
+ Aside from typing some pretty pristine prose, George Will and I don’t have much in common. But we agree on this. “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth seems to be a war criminal. Without a war. An interesting achievement ... The killing of the survivors by this moral slum of an administration should nauseate Americans. A nation incapable of shame is dangerous, not least to itself.” WaPo (Gift Article): A sickening moral slum of an administration.
3
Heal Thy Shelf
“Inside the store, which sits along a three-lane road in a county of peanut growers and poultry workers, Coffield scanned 300 items and recorded their shelf prices. He carried the scanned bar codes to the cashier and watched as item after item rang up at a higher price. Red Baron frozen pizzas, listed on the shelf at $5, rang up at $7.65. Bounty paper towels, shelf price $10.99, rang up at $15.50. Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes, Stouffer’s frozen meatloaf, Sprite and Pepsi, ibuprofen, Klondike Minis – shoppers were overpaying for all of them.” The Guardian explains how the shelf-life of prices often doesn’t last all the way to the cash register at dollar stores. How the dollar-store industry overcharges cash-strapped customers while promising low prices.
4
Garbage In (Office), Garbage Out (Of Mouth)
“The solitary Afghan man who allegedly shot two members of the West Virginia National Guard near the White House last week, killing a 20-year-old woman and critically wounding a 24-year-old man, gave the president exactly the pretext he needed to crush the hopes of desperate people here and around the world. Trump started with Afghans, canceling all U.S. visas issued to Afghans abroad and barring visa holders from entering the country, including men and women who aided the 20-year American war effort in Afghanistan. He halted asylum hearings in the U.S. for all migrants; announced that green cards issued to migrants from 19 countries ... This broad assault against the right of refuge is being staged on a heap of lies. Trump suggested that he would never have allowed the alleged gunman—who had served in a CIA-trained unit during the war—and others like him into the country; in fact Trump criticized President Joe Biden for leaving Afghan allies behind after the fall of Kabul in 2021, and the alleged gunman was granted U.S. asylum in April, under Trump.” George Packer in The Atlantic (Gift Article): Condemning Millions for One Man’s Crime.
+ “’When they come from hell and they complain and do nothing but bitch, we don’t want them in our country. Let them go back to where they came from and fix it,’ Mr. Trump added as Vice President JD Vance banged the table in encouragement.” NYT(Gift Article): Trump Calls Somalis ‘Garbage’ He Doesn’t Want in the Country.
+ Federal agents begin immigration operations in New Orleans and Minneapolis.
5
Extra, Extra
Grand Children: “Fertility rates in the U.S. have never been lower. Could $1,000 ‘Trump accounts’ for newborns, plus Tuesday’s announcement of an additional $250 for some children 10 and under, convince Americans to have more kids?” WSJ(Gift Article): Can ‘Trump Accounts’ for Babies Change the Economics of Having a Family? (Probably not, but it’s not the first time they’ve tried to pay for sex...)
+ Peace Talks Sabre Rattling: “The peace talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and a U.S. delegation led by President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff stretched on for five hours on Tuesday, but ended without a breakthrough.” (Shocker).
+ Crossing the Aisle: “President Donald Trump pardoned Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar and his wife in a federal bribery and conspiracy case on Wednesday, citing what he called a ‘weaponized’ justice system.”
+ Settimana delle Infrastrutture: “It is 64 days until the first hockey game of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, and the main hockey arena is still under construction ... Even if construction is completed, the ice surface—usually significantly larger for international play than in the NHL—will be smaller than NHL rinks.” What’s Going On With The Olympic Hockey Arena?
+ Bunny Ears: “The holiday season is here, and with it, a present for fans of end of year data and marketing: Spotify Wrapped is here! And Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny has been named its most-played artist for a fourth time, dethroning Taylor Swift.”
+ Mad Menace: The ‘Mad Men’ 4K Stream on HBO Max Had So Many Problems (Not All of Which Involved a Barf Machine). It sounds like someone uploaded the wrong files.
+ Landscape Orientation: Need an escape? Here are the Winners of the 2025 International Landscape Photographer of the Year.