DEAL OF THE DAY: Fossil Men’s Leather Trifold Wallet. #CommissionEarned

BIG TECH: Meta employees say ‘zero work’ getting done as layoffs loom.

While Meta plans another layoff, employees familiar with the matter told the FT there hasn’t been a lot of clarity around team budgets or future headcount, leaving managers unable to plan their workloads. Staff says “zero work” is getting done, employees told the outlet.

Representatives for Meta declined to comment. Meta employees say ‘zero work’ getting done as layoffs loom.

“The year of efficiency is kicking off with a bunch of people getting paid to do nothing,” one employee said, adding that “it’s a mess.”

One of the best ways to avoid getting laid off is to make yourself indispensable, and this ain’t that.

LEGAL EDUCATION UPDATE: Two-Thirds Through The Fall 2023 Law School Admissions Season: Applicants Are Down -3.5%, With Biggest Decline (-7%) In The 165-169 LSAT Band.

EVERGREEN HEADLINE: Sy Hersh Swings and Misses Big. Lee Smith writes, “What we know for sure is that Trump was on the mark when he warned the Germans that Nord Stream2 would come back to haunt them. And, thanks to Biden, it has hurt America, too. There is indeed a scandal that involves Biden and Russian pipelines, but it’s not the one Seymour Hersh wrote about. It’s simply this: a venal and careless old man was so obsessed with undoing his predecessor’s work that he greenlighted a war in Europe with consequences that are likely to impact how Americans live for years to come.”

CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: Secret Service Official: ‘Maybe We Were Asked for A Favor?’ in Investigation of Hunter Biden’s Gun.

MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT [VIP]: Inside the GOP Plot to Stop Donald Trump… Or Will He Do the Job Himself?

Don’t forget that VODKAPUNDIT promo code if you’ve been thinking of joining us.

#JOURNALISM:

CLAPPER IS A JOKE, AND A DISGRACE: James Clapper Runs From His 2020 Election Interference, Jonathan Turley Drags Him in Response.

FROM LAURA MONTGOMERY:  The Gear Engages: A Science Fiction Lost Colony Adventure.

#CommissionEarned

It takes more than a single terraformer to start a new world.

The human colony on the lost world of Not What We Were Looking For faces fracture and schism. On one side of the river, the settlers from Earth remember what it means to live in a free society. In the Marss-controlled city, the governor cancelled elections long ago and strives daily to cement his grip on the inhabitants.

Thaddeus Dawe and the Hudson cousins, including the one who agreed to marry him, save the colony’s last terraseeder from the governor’s political grandstanding, and head for the secret northern enclave started by Thaddeus’ brother. But all Thaddeus’ careful planning takes a wrenching turn when not one but two parties race in pursuit.

Thwarted in his original goal, faced with repairing the consequences of what he does to escape arrest, and besotted by the discovery of newspapers, Thaddeus wrestles with new ventures and roles in which he dare not fail. He must save not only Earth’s microbial legacy but its knowledge base as well. Not to mention, he’s getting married.

But when the governor’s chief of staff decides to weaponize Thaddeus against both the city’s farmers and the newspaper’s publisher, Thaddeus must fight the governor’s attempts to steal the farmers’ land even as someone destroys everything Thaddeus himself tries to build. In the end, he must do what he can to save those his own betrayal put at risk.

Picking up where Under the Earthline left off, The Gear Engages is the fourth book in the gripping science fiction colonization series Martha’s Sons. If you like action, political machinations, and a driven hero, you’ll want to dive in heart-and-head first.

Pick it up now to join the fight for a lost world!

BUYING THE BEST YOU CAN SAVES MONEY IN THE LONG RUN:  Quality has a luxury all its own.

COULD BE SABOTAGE. OR YOU KNOW, RUSSIAN MAINTENANCE:  First picture of hole that occurred on Soyuz in December.

OF COURSE. THE UPSIDE: THEY WOULDN’T BE WORKING THIS HARD, IF THEY WEREN’T A MINORITY:  A real blacklist designed to choke ad profits from conservative and legitimate news organizations.

BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO CONCEPT OF MONEY AND HAVE NOT WORKED A DAY IN THEIR LIVES, SO SALON THINKS THEY’RE NATURAL LEFTISTS?  Salon Sunday Ridiculousness: Why Children Should Vote.

OBVIOUSLY. ON ACCOUNT OF “BLACK” IS NOT A NATION:  Super Bowl LVII – There Is No Black National Anthem.

What’s next? The National Anthem of Depressed Teen Girls? Or the National Anthem of Girls Who Have to Share Locker Rooms With Boys?
The point of a National Anthem is that it’s National. It’s kind of right there in the name. If you forget that, you’ll end up with the National Anthem of Mrs. Wiggins who lives in Apartment 24D at 567 Smith Street in Point Pleasant, Wisconsin. And then every other national anthem for the rest of us. We’d never have time for a Superbowl. Though I grant you if it spared us the mid-game show, it would be totally worth it.

SAME AS IT’S EVER BEEN?  CDC Warns Of Teen Girls Experiencing Violence And Hopelessness.

Maybe we shouldn’t let boys who think they’re girls upstage them in sports and beauty pageants?

UH UH. THE OTHER ONE PLAYS JINGLE BELLS: Beijing Claims U.S. has Flown Over 10 ‘High-Altitude Balloons’ in China’s Airspace the Past Year.

WHAT DOES THIS GUY THINK HE IS? CANADIAN?  Yale Professor: Mandatory ‘Mass Suicide’ of Elderly a Solution to ‘Japan’s Rapidly Aging Society’.

SO, I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THIS: It’s obviously a distraction. But still, every word these people say is a lie, including a and the. So?  White House: ‘No Indication of Aliens,’ Spy Balloon ‘Part of Larger Intelligence Gathering Program’.

I for one welcome our new Alpha Centaurian overlords. I mean seriously. You think they’re worse than the Marxists? I roll to disbelieve.

WELL, YES. SHOULD HAVE A LONG TIME AGO. BUT WHY THE WARNING NOW? ARE THEY PLANNING TO OHIO RUSSIA?  U.S. Tells Citizens Not to Travel to Russia and Those Already There to Leave Immediately.