NOW OUT: From Peter Attia, Paperback version of Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity. #CommissionEarned

MICKEY 17 IS A MISBEGOTTEN SCI-FI TRUMP SATIRE:

Unfortunately for a long-awaited follow-up to a groundbreaking Oscar winner, Mickey 17 is something of a disappointment. Part of the problem is that the movie’s attempts at political satire come across as a little too of-the-moment—or, perhaps, of a recent moment now passed. The movie’s release was delayed for about a year, which significantly dampens some of the intended topical humor.

See, Mickey 17 takes place mostly on a spaceship that has settled on an ice planet. The ship is led by Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo), a blustering, arrogant, camera-hogging dolt of a politician who confuses religion with corporations and leaves Earth, in part, over a dispute about losing an election. Ruffalo plays Marshall with a bug-eyed cartoon egoism, which is bolstered by support from his wife, Ylfa (Toni Collette), who, if anything is even more of a cartoon cutout. Ruffalo’s performance is energetically wacky enough to hold some attention, but it’s also distracting. Every time Marshall graces the screen, the movie descends into a clodding, off-the-mark Donald Trump farce that’s predicated on the idea of political sore-loserdom. Turns out science fiction movies aren’t very good at predicting the future.

Would the movie have landed better if it had been released a year ago? Well, it certainly would have hit differently. But even aside from the flat political satire, the movie has underlying structural problems.

Despite its trailer running before just about every movie I’ve seen in the last year, as Christian Toto writes: Anti-Capitalism Mickey 17 Set to Lose Millions at Box Office.

Variety notes “Mickey 17” is off to a subdued start both here and overseas. Recouping the film’s massive investment.- a $118 million budget – seems all but impossible for Warner Bros.

It’s on track to open domestically with $18 million to $20 million this weekend and $20 million to $25 million internationally. That would put its global opening at $40 million to $45 million … it’ll need around $275 million to $300 million at the global box office to turn a profit, which will be a challenge.

[Bong] Joon-ho sympathizes with the colleagues who helped make his new film possible.

“I feel bad for the producers and the marketing team for saying this — I know they have a very hard job. But once I find a particular story or character or situation fascinating, I just go ahead and I create a movie based on it. I really don’t think about the risks. Maybe I can’t.”

Must be nice.

He’s shielded from the negative aspects of capitalism, at least for now. At some point his films will have to consistently recoup their investments or studios will stop handing him blank checks.

Does Joon-ho have the “license to kill” contract that Woody Allen had with United Artists and Orion in the 1970s and ‘80s? Otherwise, how many times can he keep turning out underperforming movies?

JOHN KASS: Democrats Locked in Their Own Hell.

The other day Democrat pundit Chris Matthews appeared on a “Morning Joe” panel on left-wing MSNBC. He skipped the old Trump is Hitler shtick, ranting instead that Trump was Mussolini. He might as well have channeled the lunatic Renfield from an old Dracula movie, laughing maniacally, chanting “the blood is the life! the blood is the life!”

Some kind soul might tell Matthews and other MSNBC attention seekers that the blood of rats and birds and flies are not the life. Nor is jabbering paranoia. For political parties, votes are the life. And they keep losing them. Americans appeal to common sense, not to mad ravings.

Long ago, the Democrat Party had a choice:

Cleanse themselves of their Barack Obama infection, cleanse themselves of Obama’s racist and radical addiction to racial preferences that we now know as DEI, amputate any limbs that had become sodden with jacobin  gangrene and become what they had been: a patriotic American party of the American working class.

Or, they could continue following the discredited Clintons and Obamas down the sewer.

The Democrats chose the sewer.

They didn’t do a damn thing except scream. And their childish foot stomping was on display for all the world to see last week at President Trump’s Congressional address.

They wore costumes. They waved their little bingo signs. They took a stand against women, by refusing to support a ban against men in women’s sports. Yet they wore feminist pink to gaslight their voters.

They showed themselves to be what we knew about them:

That they are not serious. They’re only about performance.  They are the leftist clerisy living on money taken from Americans. And they’re quite dangerous.

Read the whole thing.

IT’S A SUICIDE: The Death of Europe.

MAKE THEM PAY: Student sues CU Boulder after investigation for identity politics criticism.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: University of Cincinnati says offering prayer for the disabled is a ‘micro aggression,’ provides ‘Able-Bodied Privilege Checklist.’

CONCISE: “500M Europeans Are Begging 300M Americans for Protection from 140M Russians Who Have Been Unable to Overcome 50M Ukrainians for Three Years.”

YEP: Bob Graboyes: From Hitler to Hamas (and Hezbollah): Nazi Germany was the incubator for what would become Hamas and Hezbollah.

LIGHTNING DEAL: Newentor Weather Station Wireless Indoor Outdoor Thermometer. #CommissionEarned

CHANGE: What Trump’s Triangulation Means for Asia.

THERE’S SO MUCH FRAUD AND GRAFT OUT THERE I’LL BELIEVE ANYTHING AT THIS POINT:

There’s one obvious reason why the unions might be doing this. Massive social security fraud with fake employee dues flowing into union coffers – and being used for political contributions in the process. https://t.co/cPWgbrX8LW

— Jeff Carlson (@themarketswork) March 8, 2025

WELL, YES:

Do Democrats hear ourselves?

Jerry, if allowing Jews to go to school without getting screamed at and harassed by antisemites is the MAGA agenda and something we oppose DEMOCRATS ARE FUCKED.

What are you doing, buddy? https://t.co/h45e9rNhQ3

— Brianna Wu (@BriannaWu) March 8, 2025

THINGS THAT THE ESTABLISHMENT DOESN’T WANT TO DO ARE ALWAYS IMPOSSIBLY HARD, EVEN IF THEY’RE NOT:

"Ghana deported over 3 million Nigerians and other African and non-African immigrants in 3 months."

If true, this makes deportations seem utterly trivial to do because they can be done on a huge scale by a country with extremely low state capacity. https://t.co/kYf8Y3tuhB

— Crémieux (@cremieuxrecueil) March 8, 2025

However, according to Grok, the number seems high: “Deporting 3 million would mean 20% of the population, which strains credibility for a country with limited state capacity at the time. More realistic estimates suggest 200,000 to 1 million were expelled, mostly Nigerians, over a few months. Data’s messy, but the scale was still massive for the era.”

By the way, when using X you can do what I did — if you’re unsure of a fact in a post, just reply to @grok and ask about it. In this case I just replied: “@grok is this number of deportations correct?”

HE’LL BE PERFECT AS A DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT.

New data shows Newsom spent $37 billion on homelessness as the homeless population exploded.

The State Auditor found he lost track of that money. Then, he vetoed a bill to hold him accountable for further spending.

California now has half the nation's unsheltered homeless. pic.twitter.com/ClVpyM9UGc

— Kevin Kiley (@KevinKileyCA) March 9, 2025

HAVE SOME MEMES:  THE ODDS LOVE MEMES, BUT THE MEMES ARE ODD.

SPOILER: THEY WON’T BE SMALL. Why DOGE is and will remain popular, even if its cuts are small. But people also like that the people with no skin in the game are suddenly getting skint:

But probably the most frustrating argument I have heard against DOGE’s cuts is that government workers are losing their jobs. Of course, I feel for anyone who loses a job — it is a scary moment for anyone, causing huge upset for themselves and their families. But this isn’t new. Under President Obama, multiple regulations led to tens of thousands of job losses — people with no other training and who had been coal miners or worked in factories their entire lives lost their jobs with just a few days’ notice. Entire communities were devastated by Obama and Biden-era policies, and in some cases they were quite proud of it.

Indeed.

PLANNED PARENTHOOD IS A LEADING HEALTHCARE PROVIDER TO WOMEN AND THEIR NEVER-TO-BE-BORN CHILDREN:  Republicans Demand Details on COVID-19 Funds Received by Planned Parenthood.

THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS:  Is Putin Ready for a Truce With Ukraine?

HE HAD A STROKE, HE DIDN’T LOSE HIS MIND:  Fetterman Calls Out His Party’s Antics During Trump’s Joint Address to Congress.

‘REVENGE: THE INSIDE STORY OF TRUMP’S RETURN TO POWER’:  New Book Uncovers Security Breaches During Trump’s Campaign.

Trump’s staff pointed to multiple instances where the president’s safety was compromised, including an August 2023 appearance at a Washington courthouse for an arraignment, where the elevator malfunctioned, stopping at random floors and exposing him to onlookers in the building.

WHEN PEOPLE WANT ‘REALISM’ EUROPE IS NOT WHERE THEY TURN:  European leaders back ‘realistic’ $53B Arab-backed Gaza reconstruction plan rejected by US, Israel.

LIKE MOST SUCH THINGS IT’S A THINLY VEILED COMMUNIST HOLIDAY:  Why We Should Not Celebrate “International Women’s Day” (March 8).