Thursday Night Links

• The full-bore assault against Elon Musk is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. If he, the richest man in the world, can be harassed, sued, and regulated into inoperability, what about the rest of us? At stake is not just the openness of social media. Rather, at stake is the free speech guaranteed by the First Amendment. It used to be that leftists would publicly stand up for the First Amendment, no matter their censorious behavior behind closed doors. Nowadays, the First Amendment, like other basic provisions of the Constitution, is up for grabs. Former Secretary of State John Kerry gave voice to this troubling feature of the zeitgeist recently when he spoke at a World Economic Forum panel. The trouble with the First Amendment, he said, is that it is a “major block” in the battle against “disinformation” about such things as climate change. If the Democrats win, he went on, then at long last they can “change”—i.e., gut—the troublesome provision. This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but with elitist subterfuge and violation of our Constitutional rights. [The New Criterion]
• Early 50s Bell Labs was definitely peak Bell Labs: it’s worth noticing most of the people there were working on very practical problems. Only a small minority worked on basic research, and even that was tied to practical problems. Shannon almost certainly wouldn’t have thought up information theory or boolean algebra applied to circuitry (effectively inventing digital electronics) if he hadn’t been working at the phone company. Another pattern: virtually all the noteworthy workers there were redneck kids from the midbest from lower to middle class families and generally humble schools: much like in the space program back when it was doing innovative stuff, rather than preventing innovative stuff (with more girl bosses) as it does today. No immigrants or other “diversity;” not even any Ellis Island Americans or married women were allowed for most of its history.  The author was amazed by this and brought it up constantly. Sorry fellow Ellis Island Americans; most of American physics and science was done by WASPs; you know, like the people everyone around the world thinks of as actual Americans. [Scott Locklin]
• "Q3 2024 was the best quarter in CME Group history, with records across volume, revenue, adjusted operating income, adjusted net income and adjusted earnings per share," said Terry Duffy, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, CME Group. "This marks the second consecutive quarter of volume and open interest increases across every asset class. Our financial product volumes rose 28%, reflecting a 36% jump in interest rates to a record ADV of 14.9 million contracts. This was driven by a 35% rise in SOFR futures to a record ADV of 4.1 million contracts and 31% growth in Treasuries to a record ADV of 8.4 million contracts. In addition, our commodities volume was up 20%, options increased 27% and international ADV was a record 8.4 million contracts." [CME Group Inc.]
• People have been forgetting Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. You spend thousands of dollars on the most important night of your life, and as the days tick down you get more and more excited—only two months until I see Taylor Swift! Only fifty-nine days! Only fifty-eight!—until the magical day itself. You get dressed up in imitation of one of her outfits. You wear a friendship bracelet, because there’s a Taylor Swift song called “You’re On Your Own, Kid” where she mentions friendship bracelets. You write the number thirteen on your hand, because Taylor Swift sometimes writes the number thirteen on her hand. You’re so full of excitement it feels like your heart might burst. And then, suddenly, it’s night, and you’re streaming out of the venue with hundreds of thousands of other fans, and you have no memory of what just happened. [The Lamp]
• Anyone associated with the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, which Trump and his advisers denounced after it became a political target for Democrats, would be barred from working on the team. Transition staff used “Control+F,” a keyboard shortcut, to search through Project 2025’s 900-plus-page policy blueprint for the names of potential hires. Even a brief mention of a name in an author’s note at the end of a chapter was enough to prevent that person from getting a job on the team. In several cases in recent weeks, informal discussions about working on the team came to an abrupt halt after a name was spotted in the document, according to people familiar with the matter. [WSJ]
• Popular support for Trump has grown, and popular support for Harris has shrunk, to the point where they feel they can't plausibly steal the election without a complete loss of all legitimacy. It's clear to me that Trump's appeal and support has only grown since 2016. Meanwhile, more and more people are finally starting to recognize the media BS and astroturfing for what it is. In 2020 they could steal the election and most people would think "well, we all hate Trump, so it's probably legit, (whisper: and if it's not, it's for the greater good anyway)". But in 2024, seeing things like Biden's debate performance and Harris' interviewing, a lot of people are starting to recognize that nothing is real or trustworthy. People have very short memories and, for the most part, lack the ability to understand causality. They simply see correlations. The last four years have involved some very disastrous political decisions, but most political decisions take time to come to fruition. If Trump is in office for the next 4 years, he's going to inherit all of the problems, and be unable to solve them (or, if he can solve them, unable to solve them before his term is up). This allows the deep state to pin all the problems on him and sets the Democrats up for a slam dunk in 2028. [Exit]