Joel Wertheimer
@wertwhile.bsky.social
Civil rights attorney. COYS.
Ahem: As I said in my column wertwhile.substack.com/p/dont-over-...
February 9, 2026 at 2:59 PM
Ahem: As I said in my column wertwhile.substack.com/p/dont-over-...
Annoying (complimentary) to have read @add-hawk.bsky.social’s new book The Score right before the Olympics because now I’m watching all of these sports like snowboard big air and thinking about how we’ve lost what was beautiful about snowboarding by needing objective scores.
February 8, 2026 at 1:09 PM
Annoying (complimentary) to have read @add-hawk.bsky.social’s new book The Score right before the Olympics because now I’m watching all of these sports like snowboard big air and thinking about how we’ve lost what was beautiful about snowboarding by needing objective scores.
Reposted by Joel Wertheimer
i forget who made it but it cracks me up lol
February 8, 2026 at 10:54 AM
i forget who made it but it cracks me up lol
It is true! Cumulative through January NYC hadn't had this many heating degree days starting in November since 2013/2014 and depending on how the rest of this month goes might be the coldest winter we've had in 20 years.
February 8, 2026 at 3:38 AM
It is true! Cumulative through January NYC hadn't had this many heating degree days starting in November since 2013/2014 and depending on how the rest of this month goes might be the coldest winter we've had in 20 years.
All I’ll say is we didn’t have a winter like this for all of Bill de Blasio's eight years since he put the fear of FUCKING GOD into the groundhogs.
February 8, 2026 at 3:02 AM
All I’ll say is we didn’t have a winter like this for all of Bill de Blasio's eight years since he put the fear of FUCKING GOD into the groundhogs.
Early returns on Opus 4.6 are that it’s very impressive and the writing style worse and more cloying weakening one of the things I preferred about Claude.
February 6, 2026 at 9:51 PM
Early returns on Opus 4.6 are that it’s very impressive and the writing style worse and more cloying weakening one of the things I preferred about Claude.
Reposted by Joel Wertheimer
Super cool index here!
This chart seems to suggest a striking pattern: Kevin Warsh's speeches are consistently hawkish, except when Trump is President and about to appoint a new Fed Chair.
www.economist.com/finance-and-...
www.economist.com/finance-and-...
February 6, 2026 at 1:46 PM
Super cool index here!
Reposted by Joel Wertheimer
And trivia games can really catch fire: think of the HQ Trivia and GeoGuessr. So there may be a real opportunity to run quiz games with some cultural and some political questions in advance of the 2026 and 2028 elections (esp the latter, since it's national).
February 5, 2026 at 5:37 PM
And trivia games can really catch fire: think of the HQ Trivia and GeoGuessr. So there may be a real opportunity to run quiz games with some cultural and some political questions in advance of the 2026 and 2028 elections (esp the latter, since it's national).
Reposted by Joel Wertheimer
Research Obsession Day 1: What do we know about the impact of creators? And what does it have to do with Elon Musk?
Featuring this incredible research by @eunjikim.bsky.social, Nate Lubin & others: arxiv.org/pdf/2512.15401
Featuring this incredible research by @eunjikim.bsky.social, Nate Lubin & others: arxiv.org/pdf/2512.15401
February 5, 2026 at 5:37 PM
Research Obsession Day 1: What do we know about the impact of creators? And what does it have to do with Elon Musk?
Featuring this incredible research by @eunjikim.bsky.social, Nate Lubin & others: arxiv.org/pdf/2512.15401
Featuring this incredible research by @eunjikim.bsky.social, Nate Lubin & others: arxiv.org/pdf/2512.15401
For all the complaints about Dems being weak and not fighting, on the thing republicans actually tried to do to defeat democracy that Dems used to fold on, they’ve punched back so hard redistricting will be a win.
NEW: Virginia Dems have unveiled their proposed 10-1 congressional map in response to GOP gerrymanders in other states. It targets 4 Republicans & has 10 Harris seats.
It will be used in 2026 contingent upon an April 21 voter referendum.
Interactive map+data: davesredistricting.org/join/20e0049...
It will be used in 2026 contingent upon an April 21 voter referendum.
Interactive map+data: davesredistricting.org/join/20e0049...
February 6, 2026 at 1:05 AM
For all the complaints about Dems being weak and not fighting, on the thing republicans actually tried to do to defeat democracy that Dems used to fold on, they’ve punched back so hard redistricting will be a win.
Fact check on this thread: completely true.
Kamala Harris ran a good, very aggressive campaign, but started at a significant deficit, and ran headlong into a ocean of misogyny, which has continued to dog her even more post-election, now that people feel empowered to say what they REALLY think about her
February 6, 2026 at 1:02 AM
Fact check on this thread: completely true.
Reposted by Joel Wertheimer
I wrote about the crypto crash and why this is the worst crypto winter in the industry's history.
Sub to the Odd Lots newsletter here www.bloomberg.com/account/news...
Sub to the Odd Lots newsletter here www.bloomberg.com/account/news...
February 5, 2026 at 5:43 PM
I wrote about the crypto crash and why this is the worst crypto winter in the industry's history.
Sub to the Odd Lots newsletter here www.bloomberg.com/account/news...
Sub to the Odd Lots newsletter here www.bloomberg.com/account/news...
Yesterday I made the analogy of Google's strategic decisions on CapEx to the Gattaca scene where Ethan Hawke's character reveals he won their games of swimming chicken because he did not save any energy for the way back.
Short term Google is clearly making oodles of money selling compute to their competitors but I wonder if there’s internal debate that that’s the right strategy. Malone talking about taking the short term money licensing to Netflix comes to mind.
February 5, 2026 at 2:32 PM
Yesterday I made the analogy of Google's strategic decisions on CapEx to the Gattaca scene where Ethan Hawke's character reveals he won their games of swimming chicken because he did not save any energy for the way back.
Reposted by Joel Wertheimer
People are going to be really mad that the ask here isn’t abolishing any deportation ever (which would be my choice if it was just up to me) but this is a very calculated list of reasonable asks that Republicans will lose their minds over, reinforcing revulsion in the American lizard brain.
Schumer & Jeffries lay out the Democratic demands for a DHS funding deal in a letter to the top Republican leaders
February 5, 2026 at 2:46 AM
People are going to be really mad that the ask here isn’t abolishing any deportation ever (which would be my choice if it was just up to me) but this is a very calculated list of reasonable asks that Republicans will lose their minds over, reinforcing revulsion in the American lizard brain.
A world where Sam Altman is worth $1T and there are 25 million unemployed college graduates in America is not a world where Sam Altman is worth $1T.
I think it's best for everyone to understand that the unified class project of billionaires right now is to do to white collar workers what globalization and neoliberalism did to blue collar workers.
February 4, 2026 at 8:55 PM
A world where Sam Altman is worth $1T and there are 25 million unemployed college graduates in America is not a world where Sam Altman is worth $1T.
Relatedly the Republican Party still has a trust advantage on the issue of immigration over the Democratic Party. Voters don't like the visible cruelty and the secret police but it's not translated into a Dem advantage on the issue.
February 4, 2026 at 2:57 AM
Relatedly the Republican Party still has a trust advantage on the issue of immigration over the Democratic Party. Voters don't like the visible cruelty and the secret police but it's not translated into a Dem advantage on the issue.
People who were in the baseball stats fights of the early 2000s might remember an argument about whether you could predict which players would get injured. One person said there was no YoY correlation, it was all noise and another said of course you can tell who was injury prone. So they made a bet.
February 3, 2026 at 9:14 PM
People who were in the baseball stats fights of the early 2000s might remember an argument about whether you could predict which players would get injured. One person said there was no YoY correlation, it was all noise and another said of course you can tell who was injury prone. So they made a bet.
Reposted by Joel Wertheimer
This whole fight comes down to "is 1-2 points a large effect or a small effect" , where the campaign side folks say "that's a large effect" and the academics say "that's a small effect"
February 3, 2026 at 6:28 PM
This whole fight comes down to "is 1-2 points a large effect or a small effect" , where the campaign side folks say "that's a large effect" and the academics say "that's a small effect"
So far Zohran is very popular during his honeymoon phase per Siena poll. 68-20 in NYC, and 48-32 statewide including about 20% of Republicans. sri.siena.edu/wp-content/u...
February 3, 2026 at 12:55 PM
So far Zohran is very popular during his honeymoon phase per Siena poll. 68-20 in NYC, and 48-32 statewide including about 20% of Republicans. sri.siena.edu/wp-content/u...
This was the single lowest month of homicides in New York City on record...ever.
February 3, 2026 at 12:35 AM
This was the single lowest month of homicides in New York City on record...ever.
Talarico campaign boy I don't know.
February 3, 2026 at 12:13 AM
Talarico campaign boy I don't know.
On the one hand I think Mayor Mamdani will be quite opposed to Waymo coming to NYC. On the other, feel like we might get a statewide override as it'll be embarrassing for NYC to not have Waymo while other major cities do.
There is a defensible case for this valuation IMO, and the size of the raise suggests they're getting ready to scale big time. Currently in six US metros, aim to expand to a total of 20 markets including Tokyo and London this year.
Accelerating our global growth: Waymo raises $16 billion investment round
Today, Waymo enters a new era. We have raised a $16 billion investment round valuing the company at $126 billion post-money. This capital underscores that the age of autonomous mobility at scale has a...
waymo.com
February 2, 2026 at 10:13 PM
On the one hand I think Mayor Mamdani will be quite opposed to Waymo coming to NYC. On the other, feel like we might get a statewide override as it'll be embarrassing for NYC to not have Waymo while other major cities do.
Reposted by Joel Wertheimer
this particular line is maybe the best statement of purpose i have seen for those of us who want a more militant opposition to this administration
“Let us be clear: we want the power of the state. We wish to hold the criminals of the regime accountable. We wish to seize back the public funds looted by Trump and his cronies. We wish to undo the damage he has done to the government. More than any of that we wish to rebuild.”
From Powerlessness to Power
We will not achieve any of our ultimate goals without exercising state power, and the most effective way to take state power is through nonviolent but confrontational resistance.
www.liberalcurrents.com
February 2, 2026 at 12:34 PM
this particular line is maybe the best statement of purpose i have seen for those of us who want a more militant opposition to this administration
Tooze going Treatler wasn’t expected tbh.
February 2, 2026 at 12:28 PM
Tooze going Treatler wasn’t expected tbh.