#Plan and Strategy for Substack

[mehmetyildizmelbourne-blog]

Free December Gift for Freelance Writers

Creating a Plan and Strategy to Boost Your Newsletters A Free Video and Audio Book Presentation of Substack Mastery Book for Your Enjoyment Dear Subscribers, Happy December! I hope this post finds you well. This month is very busy for me as I am helping our editors, updating all submission guidelines, and creating a new onboarding pack for 2025.  I will publish it soon as so many new writers…

[mariacallous]

When I caught up with Elizabeth Warren, the senior Democratic senator from Massachusetts, by telephone on Wednesday evening, it seemed like she didn’t know whether to laugh or scream. Hours earlier, Donald Trump had caved to pressure from the financial markets and announced, via social media, a ninety-day pause on many of his tariffs. On Wall Street, stocks shot up. Later in the afternoon, Warren, who sits on the Senate finance and banking committees, had spoken from the floor of the upper chamber, where she demanded an independent investigation into whether Trump had manipulated the markets to benefit Wall Street donors. (Anybody who had known about the policy pivot in advance could have made a fortune buying stocks or stock futures.) But while, in her floor speech, Warren had bristled with righteous anger at the idea of Trump, or anyone else at the White House, tipping off rich friends, during our conversation she couldn’t stop herself from chortling at the Administration’s claim that the President’s reversal had been the product of an artful negotiation strategy. “No serious person believes that, and I can’t even find an unserious person who believes it,” she joked. “The tariffs are on; the tariffs are off. The tariffs are on; the tariffs are off. Donald Trump is playing the biggest game of Red Light Green Light since ‘Squid Game.’ ”

Since Trump’s return to the White House, his chaotic style of governing has often seemed to catch Democrats off balance, and deprived them of a stationary target. Warren, however, has been on the offensive throughout. Unlike Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who have joined forces for a “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, she hasn’t been barnstorming around the country. (Although, as part of the mass “Hands Off!” protests last weekend, she did speak to a large crowd in Nashville.) But Warren has been busy in Washington. In February, when a team from Elon Musk’s DOGE gutted the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (C.F.P.B.), which she was the primary figure in founding, she denounced the attack as illegal and joined a street protest by the agency’s staff. More recently, Warren has broadened her critique of Trump’s policies to encompass other areas, including trade, taxes, financial regulation, and the debilitating effect of his over-all blitzkrieg. “Chaos is its own tax on the economy,” she said to me. “No business wants to plunk down the millions of dollars it takes to build something, or assemble a team, if they don’t know what the rules will be next week, much less next year. The only consistent theme is chaos, and no one can plan against chaos.”

Warren, who has long been a leading voice on the progressive left, is part firebrand and part policy wonk. During the run-up to the great financial crisis of 2008, when she was a professor at Harvard Law School, she cautioned, in speeches and blog posts, about the dangers of financial deregulation and Wall Street greed. After becoming a senator, in 2012, she focussed on soaring inequality, and, in 2020, when she ran for President, she proposed an annual wealth tax on the top 0.01 per cent. Even before last week, when Trump announced his blanket tariffs and brought the United States to the brink of another financial crisis, Warren was warning about the dangers that Trumponomics posed, including the likelihood that it would plunge the U.S. economy into a recession. “Look, this is the dumbest financial crisis in U.S. history,” she told me in an interview on Wednesday morning, shortly before Trump did his about-face. “Unlike earlier crises caused by viruses or subprime mortgages, this is one man who woke up with a crazy idea and imposed it on the world. But the tariff crisis is layered onto other ways in which he is weakening the economy.”

On a new Substack newsletter that Warren launched on Friday, in conjunction with other Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee, she highlights some of the Trump policies that she sees as particularly pernicious, including efforts to weaken financial deregulation, Musk’s slash-and-burn tactics at key federal agencies, and the pursuit by Republicans in Congress of a highly regressive tax policy that could well force spending cuts which could rip up the social safety net. “Lights are flashing red, but it is not too late,” Warren writes. “We still have time to prevent economic calamity for American families if we act quickly.”

Since coming to office, Trump has appointed new regulators—or, rather, deregulators—at many of the nation’s oversight agencies: the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, and the C.F.P.B. To Warren, this is a recipe for disaster. “The lesson we should have learned from 2008 is that if the regulatory players don’t do their jobs in enforcing the laws and overseeing large financial institutions, these institutions will go for profit every time and load risk into the system,” she told me. In February and March, the shell of the C.F.P.B., where Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is now the acting director, dropped more than half a dozen enforcement cases. In one of them, the agency had accused the bank Capital One of cheating customers out of two billion dollars by misleading them about interest rates offered on its savings accounts. In another, it had accused three big banks—JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America—of failing to protect their customers from rampant fraud on Zelle, a payments platform in which they have ownership stakes.

In our conversation, Warren underscored that the Republican desire for tax cuts seems to know no bounds. “Even in the middle of this chaos, they are moving forward on a bill that has trillions of dollars in giveaways to corporations and billionaires, and cuts the underlying investment in working families,” she said. “That’s a terrible idea in the best of economic times, but it will be a complete disaster at a time when more American families are coming under financial stress.”

The struggle over taxes and spending seems set to dominate the legislative agenda on Capitol Hill until the end of the year. But, for the moment, Warren is focussed on Trump’s tariffs. Even though some are now lower than they were at the start of the week, they are all still very much in place. (For most goods from China, the import duty is now a hundred and forty-five per cent. Autos, auto parts, steel, and aluminum face rates of twenty-five per cent, as do many other goods from Canada and Mexico. Items from most other countries are subject to a rate of ten per cent.) The policy debate about how far the federal government should go to protect manufacturing jobs remains heated. Even as elected Democrats have lambasted Trump for panicking investors and tanking the markets, some of them, particularly in industrial states such as Michigan and Pennsylvania, have joined the United Auto Workers union in expressing support for at least some of Trump’s tariffs.

When I asked Warren what stance Democrats should adopt on tariffs, she marked out a middle ground, describing them as “an important tool in the economic toolbox,” but arguing that they should be introduced only in certain situations and industries. “If you get sick, and fill your prescription in America, there’s a ninety-per-cent chance that the drug was manufactured overseas, probably in Asia, and the materials for it probably came from China,” she said. “That’s a dangerous place for our country. If we got into a back-and-forth with a couple of countries, suddenly there’s no antibiotics for heart medication.” Warren argued that the keys to employing tariffs successfully are targeting them on goods that have strategic value, using them in conjunction with other policies designed to encourage production in the United States, such as subsidies, and introducing them gradually so that businesses and investors can plan for them. This was the approach of the Biden Administration, and Warren pointed out that it is very different from what Trump is doing. “Imposing tariffs on virtually every country for virtually every product sent to the United States, at rates that seem to be randomly pulled from a bingo cage, is not a way to strengthen America’s economy,” she said. “And it is certainly not a way to attract long-term investment and good jobs to the United States.”

But with Trump and the Republicans holding power in Washington, what can the Democrats do? Warren insists that, at least when it comes to Trump’s blanket tariffs, they are far from powerless. In introducing these levies, which it falsely described as “reciprocal,” the White House invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, of 1977, which gave the President the authority to introduce broad tariffs during a national emergency. “But we are not in an emergency right now with Belgium or South Korea,” Warren pointed out. “That same law gives Congress the power to pass a resolution and say, ‘Nope. No emergency here,’ and roll back the entire tariff authority that Trump is using.”

On Thursday, as the stock markets fell again, Warren, together with her colleague Ron Wyden, of Oregon, introduced a piece of legislation that would do just that. Four Democrats and one Republican—Rand Paul, of Kentucky—joined them. With only forty-seven seats, Democrats seem unlikely to get the votes that they need for the bill to make it out of the Senate, especially now that Trump has announced his timeout. But Warren insists that bringing the legislation to the floor is still worthwhile because Republicans will be forced to vote on it. She said, “They will have to declare for everyone to see: Are they still simply Donald Trump’s suck-ups? Or are they legislators who will exercise independent judgment to protect the people and the economy of the United States?”

Warren surely knows the answer to her questions, which may explain, in part, her enthusiasm for the bill. When I spoke with her for a second time, after Trump’s reversal, she insisted that it was now more important than ever. “Trump demonstrated again that his whims will determine tariff policy for the entire world,” she said. “That will be true right up until Congress says no. Our resolution is the no.” 

[kenyatta]

The Washington Post is working on plans to get content from alternative sources like Substack contributors and “nonprofessional writers” aided by an AI editor and writing coach, reported The New York Times’ media reporter Ben Mullin.

The new content strategy comes after months of turmoil at the Post as staffers have bristled at efforts by owner Jeff Bezos and publisher and CEO Will Lewis to cut costs, increase revenue, and adopt a more right-leaning, MAGA-friendly tone, including directing the paper to forgo an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris last fall and a February staff-wide email from Bezos announcing a “new direction” for the Opinion Section.

According to Mullin’s report Tuesday afternoon, the program has been internally named “Ripple” and the research and development for it started over a year ago. It seeks to “sharply expand” the Post’s lineup of columnists in an effort to “appeal to readers who want more breadth than The Post’s current opinion section and more quality than social platforms like Reddit and X.”

[girlactionfigure]

From my substack Operation rising lion. Operation orchard . Operation opera. All three of these were brilliantly planned brilliantly executed operations that one could argue saved the world. All three prevented psychotic regimes from accessing weapons that could destroy the planet. I am sure the jew haters will have a lot to say today but the simple truth is that the world should be thankful that despite all the nonsensensical support for arab terrorism , Israel did what needed to be done. As the facts are slowly coming out, it turns out that as usual the world was only Getting part of the story. Iran always had a strategy for an “ overwhelming multi front attack. “They believed that if they conducted an attack with jihadis from Lebanon Syria and the “ West Bank “ and Gaza. That Egypt and Jordan would join in once they saw Israel was weakened and its defenses compromised. I am pretty certain the analysts were not wrong. The hatred runs deep despite peace agreements. The attacks on October seventh were Hamas getting buck fever and jumping the gun. To prevent the abraham accords and to keep gaza in the news hamas assumed wrongly that the muslim world would jump in even though they jumpedd the gun. Rather than just accepting that this could happen again down the road. Israel took steps to remove that threat. First the destruction of the terror infrastructure in Gaza. The complete degradation of Hezbollah and its military capability in Lebanon and Syria , and the ruin of the Iranian regimes ability to supply its proxies. All of this was needed to ensure Israel’s safety for the likelihood that they would yet again have to save the world. The west continues to assume that psychotic regimes with no self control and governed by a death cult can be negotiated with. That people who brag about “ caring more about death than you care about life “ can be assuaged with flowery words about coexistence. So while all these humanitarians were constantly attacking Israel for defending itself. Israel was creating the conditions for a more stable more prosperous Middle East. The removal of the irgc will be required for this to all work long term. But for now the stunningly brilliant operation rising lion will join operation orchard and operation opera as yet another time that Israel stepped up and saved a world that has been unfairly condemning it.

RM Bellerose

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

This image by Doug Mills NYT of today's new conference is really something.

(Amy Siskind)

* * * *

Special Counsel: "Trump would have been convicted."

January 14, 2025

Robert B. Hubbell

[Note: Due to the late release of the special counsel’s report, this newsletter is a bit disjointed. I wanted to publish on schedule despite the late-breaking news, so I ask your understanding for the seeming lack of organization.]

Last Saturday, I spoke to readers on a Substack livestream. My thesis was that the next week will be among the most challenging we will face as Americans who care about the rule of law.

We will witness a president-elect—who tried to overturn the Constitution in his prior term—swear that he will “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States”—words that will metastasize into a lie the moment he utters them. He will desecrate the Bible on which he places his hand.

The oath will be administered by a Chief Justice who granted the president-elect immunity from criminal liability, freeing Trump to ignore, attack, and undermine the Constitution.

We will watch confirmation hearings in which woefully unqualified nominees are hypocritically defended by a Republican Party that pays lip service to patriotism, law and order, and morality—except when it comes to GOP nominees credibly accused of rape, sexual assault, addictions, national security concerns, and promises to use the DOJ to exact vengeance on the president’s political opponents.

Those anticipated events are enough to make a rational person take to their bed and pull the covers over their head for the next four years. But it gets worse. Trump and MAGA are threatening to hold the victims of the Los Angeles wildfires as hostages to their efforts to raise the national debt limit (necessary to extend the 2017 tax cuts to billionaires and corporations). See Daily Beast, Republicans Float Holding California Fire Aid Hostage for Key Trump Policy.

It simply doesn’t get any more despicable than that. Every Republican who suggests that aid for victims should be conditioned on tax breaks for billionaires deserves their own circle in Dante’s Inferno.

Today’s newsletter touches on a fair number of stories that can be viewed as “bad news.” Readers sometimes tell me that they stop reading such newsletters. I get it. But I don’t make up the news; I just comment on it.

The advice that I gave to readers on Saturday is that they should adopt two strategies to remain engaged during rough times:

First, don’t collapse the future into the present moment. The future comes at us one day at a time. We will have time to deal with potential crises as they unfold. We don’t have to “fix” everything today. To be sure, we should plan, prepare, and strategize. But not everything we are worried about will materialize. We may successfully stop or delay threats from materializing.

Second, maintain “emotional distance” from bad news. Recognize that you can’t control most of what Trump says or does. Given that fact, recognize that unchanneled anxiety and fear will not change the outcome. Focus on what you can do to change, impede, obstruct, or reverse policies we oppose. I am not saying “Don’t care” or “Hide your feelings.” Feeling anxious or fearful is understandable and natural. But recognize that we have a professional responsibility as citizens to remain informed so we can be effective advocates for the rule of law.

Okay, with that longer-than-usual throat clearing, let’s look at the stories that came at us with high velocity and frequency on Monday.

Judge Cannon continues to act in a lawless manner by obstructing release of portion of Jack Smith reports

Judge Aileen Cannon continues to issue orders regarding the reports of special counsel Jack Smith. As to the portion of the report relating to Trump's unlawful retention of national defense documents, Cannon has slowed the release of that document—including to Congress. Her order permitted the release of the portion of the report relating to Trump's election interference—a case over which she has no jurisdiction.

See MSNBC, Jack Smith's report on Trump election interference set for release after Cannon order

By the time you read this newsletter, it is highly likely that a portion of Jack Smith’s report will have been posted on the DOJ website. If so, I will address that report in Tuesday evening’s newsletter.

Judge Cannon’s unrestrained, lawless assertion of jurisdiction over matters plainly beyond her constitutional authority is a scandal for the federal judiciary. At one point in her order issued on January 13, Cannon says she doesn’t understand why the report regarding the national defense documents needs to be released to Congress. Cannon knows full well that one of Trump's nominees under consideration by the Senate (Kash Patel) is mentioned in the special counsel report.

Her order denying the report to Congress is nothing less than an effort to interfere with the Senate’s constitutional duty of “advice and consent.” See Emptywheel on Substack, Aileen Cannon Interfering with Chuck Grassley and Dick Durbin's Constitutional Duty.

Both the 11th Circuit and the US Supreme Court are to blame for Cannon’s lawless actions—actions that undermine the faith of the American people in the third branch of government. Removal of Cannon from the cases (if not the bench) is long overdue.

UPDATE: Jack Smith’s report is released; says Trump would have been convicted

Per the NYTimes, Jack Smith’s report on Trump's election interference was released on Tuesday morning. See New York Times, Special Counsel Report Says Trump Would Have Been Convicted in Election Case. (Accessible to all.)

Per the Times, the report concluded:

The department’s view that the Constitution prohibits the continued indictment and prosecution of a president is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the government’s proof or the merits of the prosecution, which the office stands fully behind.

Indeed, but for Mr. Trump’s election and imminent return to the presidency, the office assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial.

Jack Smith’s reached the right conclusion—as is obvious to anyone who watched the January 6 insurrection and related coup unfold on live television.

Hearing on Hegseth nomination set for Tuesday

Despite his manifest unfitness, Pete Hegseth will sit for a confirmation hearing in the Senate on Tuesday. Hegseth lacks the experience and temperament to run a 2 million+ person organization. Hegseth has been accused of rape and sexual harassment. He has been accused of financial mismanagement. His chest is tattooed with symbols associated with Christian nationalists. He opposes women in combat positions in the military. He opposes diversity initiatives in the military.

Trump and his acolytes have turned support for Hegseth into a test of loyalty to Trump. See Intelligencer, Pete Hegseth Is a Test.

The FBI appears to have omitted important witnesses from Hegseth’s background check—including his former wives and the woman who told police in 2017 that Hegseth sexually assaulted her. See NBC News, Pete Hegseth's FBI background check doesn't include interviews with key women from his past.

Hegseth faces a long list of allegations of misconduct. See Mother Jones, A Running List of the Allegations Against Pete Hegseth – Mother Jones. We should expect Republicans to run interference for Hegseth while Democrats try to uncover the truth about Hegseth’s past.

[..]

Concluding Thoughts

January 20, 2025, is Martin Luther King Day. It is also Inauguration Day. I know that many readers will make plans to avoid watching the Inauguration. I know I will—because the Inauguration of Donald Trump will be a moment of national disgrace and desecration rather than an occasion for celebration of the peaceful transfer of power.

If you have other plans, I encourage you to keep them. But if you do not currently have other plans during the Inauguration, join me on a livestream on Substack. While I don’t have the program planned (because of the fires in LA), I intend—among other things—to read portions of Letter From Birmingham Jail and other appropriate documents. I am open to suggestions.

I can’t promise a glossy, high-value production. I can promise we will be together in community on a difficult day for everyone who holds America dear. Details to follow.

Stay strong! Talk to you tomorrow!

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[reading-writing-revolution]

The main theme of this week’s list is Trump’s tariff war declaration and the global disruption that ensued, but before we get to that, I want to recognize the importance of the Hands Off protests which took place on Saturday. The media was not prepared to adequately cover the size and scope of this protest, which took even its organizers by surprise. I wrote more about why the protests really mattered on my Substack, but I also want to highlight, that as millions took to the streets at more than 1,600 locations, we passed an important hurdle. Many who protested were doing so for the first time, and got to see firsthand that they could do so safely and without incident. Ironically, it was Trump who preemptively erected a fence around the White House on Friday night. Protests have been remarkably effective: just ask Elon Musk who has seen his net worth crumble as Tesla stock continued to plummet following mass protests at showrooms nationwide. This week it wasn’t only citizens pushing back. We were once again joined by the courts in multiple rulings, and, for the first time, Senate Republicans and business leaders. Republican Senators at long last pushed back on Trump usurping the legislative branch’s powers, hardly a profile in courage at this late date, but a start. Wall Street got a rude awakening this week that Trump does not have a plan or a strategy for the things he does, something anyone who follows this project knew all too well. The money quote this week from Bloomberg News: “There were people who were behind Trump for selfish reasons. Now it’s hit their stock portfolios, and they are saying ‘holy sh-t’ — they didn’t expect he would do it.” Cry me a river. Welcome to our shared reality.

Week 22 - The Return - by Amy Siskind - The Weekly List

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Wajahat Ali at The Left Hook Substack:

Donald Trump is apparently strong, fit, vigorous and a self-proclaimed “very stable genius.”

So, it’s odd to learn that he knows nothing about Project 2025, the blueprint for a second Trump Administration, which his own super PAC has referred to as “Trump’s Project 2025.” It is also supported by the most influential conservative think tanks and donors. Perhaps Trump, a 78-year-old man, has lost several steps due to his old age and this explains his sudden amnesia, alongside his numerous gaffes and brain farts. It’s troubling that a man running to be the President of the United States allegedly knows “nothing” about an expansive document created by the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank that lays out in detail exactly what will happen on the first day of Trump’s second Administration. Trump adds, “I disagree with some of things they’re saying and some of things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal.”  Well, what does he disagree with exactly?

Does he disagree with Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts who made headlines this week when he said America is in the process of a “second American revolution” and warned the majority it would be bloodless only “if the left allows it to be?” Does Trump, as stated, “wish them luck” with this Project 2025 endeavor, which by the way Kevin Roberts says Trump gets “full credit” for creating?  Or does Trump agree with Project 2025’s full agenda, which includes gutting the administrative state, purging the government and installing MAGA loyalists, attacking women’s rights, weakening Social Security, annihilating the Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency, suspending immigration to the United States, and cutting disability pay for veterans by $160 billion? (Max Burns has a solid Twitter thread which outlines other horrific aspects of the plan.) 

[...] Hang Project 2025 around their necks, and let them succumb under all its rancid, oppressive weight. 

Wajahat Ali has a simple strategy regarding Project 2025 and the GOP: “Hang Project 2025 around their necks, and let them succumb under all its rancid, oppressive weight.”

See Also:

Robert Reich's Substack: Beware: Trump is Project 2025

[ksawin0in]

We Ain’t Crazy - We’re Waking Up

They tried to sell us normal. 9–5s, rent hikes, and antidepressants. But then we got tear-gassed and remembered we’re wolves. And wolves don’t do paperwork.

They call it looting. We call it recalibrating wealth. Redistributing vibes. Repossessing reality. The empire had it coming.

Burnout isn’t failure. It’s a trauma response to pretending everything’s fine. Rebellion is your nervous system remembering it was never meant to be domesticated.

They said the system works. We asked—for who? Then they sent riot cops to protect a Walgreens. Cool. Now watch us unionize your soul.

We weren’t lazy. We were just exhausted from surviving capitalism, from faking smiles for HR, from dreaming of futures we couldn’t afford. Turns out rest is rebellion. Turns out softness is strategy.

They want us isolated. So we’re building gardens. Cooking for strangers. Sharing bail links like love letters. They called us radicals. We called it remembering.

The American Dream was a scam. The contract was never mutual. And now the landlord’s crying because we figured it out. Oops.

We glitched the algorithm by feeling. By logging off. By meeting each other in the flesh and asking: “Do you feel it too?”

We are not broken. We are the update. We’re the backup plan they never accounted for.

Let it burn. Let it bloom. We are what comes after.

🌐 rebelrootrising.carrd.co 📣 TikTok & YouTube: @ksawin0in 📬 Substack: r/awakeningarchive 📷 IG: @rebelrootrising 🧵 Bluesky: ksawin.bsky.social

[mehmetyildizmelbourne-blog]

On the Path to Substack Success

How I’m building my Substack newsletters one step at a time with a supportive community I love to write. I love to write about what I love. Travel, relationships, books, deep insights, AI, photography, storytelling and a whole lot of interesting, sparkly, pretty topics that catch my eye. I like to think I’m good at it, with people who follow me and a steady income on Medium. A pleasant little…

[cruxcreations]

When I started my business, I thought passion and hard work were enough. I quickly learned that without the right digital marketing strategy, I was nearly invisible online.

After months of trial and error, I discovered Crux Creations — a digital marketing agency that finally made things click. They helped me with:

Search engine optimization (SEO)

Content strategy that actually gets seen

Social media planning that saves time

I shared my full journey in my latest Substack blog. If you’re a small business owner or creative entrepreneur struggling to stand out online, this one’s for you.

🔗 Read it here: What I Wish I Knew Before Trying to Market My Business Online

💬 Let me know if you relate, and feel free to reblog or share with someone who might need it!

[cindylouwho-2]

RECENT SEO & MARKETING NEWS FOR ECOMMERCE, AUGUST 2024

Hello, and welcome to my very last Marketing News update here on Tumblr.

After today, these reports will now be found at least twice a week on my Patreon, available to all paid members. See more about this change here on my website blog: https://www.cindylouwho2.com/blog/2024/8/12/a-new-way-to-get-ecommerce-news-and-help-welcome-to-my-patreon-page

Don't worry! I will still be posting some short pieces here on Tumblr (as well as some free pieces on my Patreon, plus longer posts on my website blog). However, the news updates and some other posts will be moving to Patreon permanently.

Please follow me there! https://www.patreon.com/CindyLouWho2

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES 

A US court ruled that Google is a monopoly, and has broken antitrust laws. This decision will be appealed, but in the meantime, could affect similar cases against large tech giants. 

Did you violate a Facebook policy? Meta is now offering a “training course” in lieu of having the page’s reach limited for Professional Mode users. 

Google Ads shown in Canada will have a 2.5% surcharge applied as of October 1, due to new Canadian tax laws.

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES 

Search Engine Roundtable’s Google report for July is out; we’re still waiting for the next core update. 

SOCIAL MEDIA - All Aspects, By Site

Facebook (includes relevant general news from Meta)

Meta’s latest legal development: a $1.4 billion settlement with Texas over facial recognition and privacy.  

Instagram

Instagram is highlighting “Views” in its metrics in an attempt to get creators to focus on reach instead of follower numbers. 

Pinterest

Pinterest is testing outside ads on the site. The ad auction system would include revenue sharing. 

Reddit

Reddit confirmed that anyone who wants to use Reddit posts for AI training and other data collection will need to pay for them, just as Google and OpenAI did. 

Second quarter 2024 was great for Reddit, with revenue growth of 54%. Like almost every other platform, they are planning on using AI in their search results, perhaps to summarize content. 

Threads

Threads now claims over 200 million active users.

TikTok

TikTok is now adding group chats, which can include up to 32 people.

TikTok is being sued by the US Federal Trade Commission, for allowing children under 13 to sign up and have their data harvested. 

Twitter

Twitter seems to be working on the payments option Musk promised last year. Tweets by users in the EU will at least temporarily be pulled from the AI-training for “Grok”, in line with EU law.

CONTENT MARKETING (includes blogging, emails, and strategies) 

Email software Mad Mimi is shutting down as of August 30. Owner GoDaddy is hoping to move users to its GoDaddy Digital Marketing setup. 

Content ideas for September include National Dog Week. 

You can now post on Substack without having an actual newsletter, as the platform tries to become more like a social media site. 

As of November, Patreon memberships started in the iOS app will be subject to a 30% surcharge from Apple. Patreon is giving creators the ability to add that charge to the member's bill, or pay it themselves.

ONLINE ADVERTISING (EXCEPT INDIVIDUAL SOCIAL MEDIA AND ECOMMERCE SITES) 

Google worked with Meta to break the search engine’s rules on advertising to children through a loophole that showed ads for Instagram to YouTube viewers in the 13-17 year old demographic. Google says they have stopped the campaign, and that “We prohibit ads being personalized to people under-18, period”.

Google’s Performance Max ads now have new tools, including some with AI. 

Microsoft’s search and news advertising revenue was up 19% in the second quarter, a very good result for them. 

One of the interesting tidbits from the recent Google antitrust decision is that Amazon sells more advertising than either Google or Meta’s slice of retail ads. 

BUSINESS & CONSUMER TRENDS, STATS & REPORTS; SOCIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, CUSTOMER SERVICE 

More than half of Gen Z claim to have bought items while spending time on social media in the past half year, higher than other generations. 

Shopify’s president claimed that Christmas shopping started in July on their millions of sites, with holiday decor and ornament sales doubling, and advent calendar sales going up a whopping 4,463%.

[livesouls]

Hi everyone,

I'm launching my Substack tomorrow! It's been a chaotic past few months, but I am finally ready to get this off the ground. I'll be writing short articles every two weeks about theory, with a focus on politics. Each article will typically focus on one text that I an writing in response to, and I will be using those texts to analyze and provide context to something relevant in current affairs. The original plan was to write weekly, but now that I've started my new full time job I can see that's not feasible at the moment. I want to use this Substack to hopefully provide new and clear perspectives on the social and political issues that characterize our moment in history, as well as to encourage myself to read and write more critically about these issues. The first article is going to be about border walls, for example, and among other things, how the fact of their prominence today says more about how Western nations see the outside world and less about any coherent strategy regarding the globe's migrant crises.

I will be posting a link to the first article tomorrow at noon. Check back tomorrow!

[thereasonsimbroke]

Warner Bros.' Creative Freedom Vs Disney's Producer Control

In Ep. 597, Millennial Mike and I discuss how Hollywood studios like Warner Brothers and Disney navigate changing dynamics, the evolving director-producer relationship, the impact of visionary filmmakers, cinematic storytelling's future amidst trends like AI-driven filmmaking, and more! Chapters 3:12 The Changing Landscape of Hollywood Studios 18:24 Impact of Directorial Vision 35:55 Nolan's Creative License 37:09 Pushing Boundaries with Batman 37:32 Spectacle and Elevation 39:40 Reimagining Batman's Mythology 49:06 Tim Burton's Dark Influence 51:35 Planning a Saga 55:58 Directorial Vision vs. Studio Interference 59:30 Zack Snyder: An Antidote to Disney 1:01:45 Zack's Five-Movie Arc 1:04:10 Built-in Reset Point 1:08:48 Changing Plans and Geoff Johns' Influence 1:49:50 Expectations and Studio Strategies 2:00:36 The Redesign of Sonic the Hedgehog 2:08:00 The True Value of Art 2:12:37 Looking Forward and Optimism

FOLLOW/SUPPORT MILLENNIAL MIKE: @millennialmike (Mike's Vero) @TheExilesNet (Mike's X) The Ronin Council (YouTube) Millenial's Substack As always, we appreciate your constructive Feedback, Suggestions, and Questions. You can also leave us an audio question on SpeakPipe. Thank you for your continued love and support! Enjoy the show. Daniel Podcast Awards 2019 || Games & Hobbies (Winner) Podcast Awards 2017 - 2018, 2020 - 2022 || Games & Hobbies (Nominated) Official Site FOLLOW US: - X | @ReasonsImBroke and @TRIBPod - Instagram - Threads - Pinterest - Tumblr - Discord Lounge - YouTube Channel SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Google Podcasts / iHeartRadio / TuneIn / Overcast SPREAD THE WORD: If you're enjoying the show, please head over to iTunes and leave us a rating and a review! Each one helps new Brokettes discover the podcast. Contribute to the Hero Initiative to offer assistance to comic creators facing difficulties. Show your support for the AFSP's efforts by donating to the Autumn Snyder Tribute Fund. CREDITS: Opening/Closing Jingles - Alex Scott Show Logo By - Opanaldiova

The latest episode of The Reasons I'm Broke Podcast!

[helenaheissner]

Love During Robot Fighting Time: Chapter 5

Hello, lovelies! Hope y'all are doing well :) 

Don't forget you can read two chapters ahead on both this story and "Magical Girl Exorcist Squad", as well as twenty chapters ahead on "A Dream of Summer Rain", by becoming a paid subscriber on my Substack or my Patreon!

***

Keith

12 Months Earlier

“And that’s why you don’t mess with the future champ!” I screamed as I started doing a poorly choreographed victory dance. I’d just slayed a flipper called… Well, Flipper. It looked like a dolphin, and the bottlenose was used to… You get the idea. And it was piloted by these guys from San Diego who had been jeering at me the entirety of the match. 

It was my first match in the pros. I was surprised to have won. But not nearly as surprised as everyone else clearly was. So I danced like the uncoordinated idiot that I was, no partners in sight so I had to be content with my own (not-so) sick moves. 

Marty Weston pulled me aside into an interview. “So, Keith Calloway, how you feeling right now, kid?!”

“I’m feeling pretty great. I think I’ve provided everyone with a good demonstration of what’s gonna happen to them when they face me!” I said, the barely-earned confidence flooding out of my mouth with each screamed syllable. 

“Bold words,” Marty said. “You think you’re gonna live up to them?”

I grabbed the mic out of his hands and grinned maniacally. “I think there’s a new sheriff in town, and you best believe he’s gunning for the crown!”

Everyone went wild, and it was at that point I decided this would make a good angle for a pro career. 

Because I’m an idiot. 

***

“So, Keith,” Eric said, and it felt like I’d been slapped. What the hell was happening to me?

“Yes,” I said, hurriedly putting my hands under my rear while I sat in the uncomfortable plastic chair. 

Eric Gaines was the owner of Gaines Auto Body and Bodybuilding, south Los Angeles’ premier destination for car detailing and weightlifting. Eric was, quite simply put, a hulking specimen of testosterone. He looked like he didn’t have an ounce of fat anywhere on his body- just raw muscle as far as the eye could see. He’d been my sponsor the past year, and he’d been conciliatory when I’d lost the finals last year. The unspoken caveat was that I needed to turn it around next year. 

And so far… I was letting him down. 

His office was all white walls and hardwood floors with a dark brown finish, his desk made of pure glass. He sat on a workout ball, while his guests were made to sit in the most uncomfortable plastic chairs imaginable. Probably a business negotiation strategy- the man had a truly staggering number of books on the subject on shelves lining his walls. “Last night didn’t exactly go as planned.”

“No, sir, it didn’t.”

“Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

“Um… I mean, I could tell you about how my loss was a fluke, but it would probably just sound like an excuse,” I said. 

“You’re right, it would,” he said with a shockingly earnest smile. Was he being passive-aggressive? I could never tell.

“I’d like to say it won’t happen again-”

“But you can’t guarantee that, and that’s completely reasonable,” he said with a conciliatory shrug. 

“Uh… Yeah,” I said. 

“But you’ll do the best you can?”

“Yes! Absolutely.”

“That’s good. Because anything less than that… Any more of these ‘flukes’, and you and I might have to reconsider our arrangement,” Eric said. “Sponsoring a robot fighter like yourself is an eccentric rich man’s game, and I’m merely an eccentric middle class man running a small business. I have a bottom line. And a reputation. And given your… Antics, in the ring, if you keep losing, it might not be great for that reputation, or that bottom line. Do we understand each other?”

“Yes, sir!” I said. 

“That’s good to hear, Keith,” he said. 

Slap. Seriously, why did that keep happening today? Sure, taking off that dress last night had been one of the single most painful experiences of my life, but that didn’t MEAN anything. Definitely. Not one bit. Not even a tiny little sliver of anything. 

“The money for this month should have already been deposited in your account,” Eric continued. “Anything else you need for the time being?”

“No, sir,” I said. 

“Good. Let’s talk again next week.”

We shook hands, and I left and stepped out into the hot midsummer air of Culver City. That was one meeting down for today. That just left the second one… And probably the much more painful one. 

I’d called Underhill last night, against my instincts. He’d texted back saying if I wanted to resume our conversation from last night, we could meet for lunch the next day.

We met at a retro diner in Inglewood with old movie posters all over the walls and fifties music playing on the speakers and waitresses wearing old timey dresses as uniforms. I’d been here before, and I’d probably been able to ignore it before, but the uniforms were… Really, really freaking cute! They were pink with white polka dots, and they had red aprons over the front. The women all wore their hair up, and I pictured myself with long hair, down past my shoulders, and in the process of putting it up, spending an hour each morning brushing it and applying product and arranging it and… 

Oh boy. 

Boy?

Right, that’s what I was. That’s all I’d ever be. I wasn’t really tr… 

But I wasn’t exactly cis, now was I? Cis people don’t spend their downtime fantasizing about being the opposite gender. 

So what was I? A girl? Non-binary? Gender fluid? 

Did I even like being a boy?

I ordered a black coffee after being sat in a booth in the back corner of the oblong establishment, drumming my fingers on the table while staring into my drink. 

“Hi,” Underhill’s voice called out as he approached. I looked up- he wore a black and gray flannel button-down and jeans, his hair messy but still framing his face well, his stubble somewhat grown in compared to last night. His eyes were… Big and friendly and inviting, and I… 

No, no, bad! I chastised myself. “Hi.”

He sat down. “So, what did you want to talk about?”

I sipped my coffee, then exhaled deeply. “So. Before we go any further. I need you to promise me that this will remain confidential.”

“Sure thing. Scout’s honor,” he said, holding up the obligatory three fingers, smiling broadly with all his perfectly straight pearly whites. 

 “You were a Boy Scout?”

“Eagle Scout!” he said. 

“Of course you were,” I muttered. 

The waitress, a young black woman named Connie, came over and asked if we were ready to order, to which Underhill replied he just wanted a black coffee. 

“A fellow black coffee drinker, I see,” I said. “A man of culture. Duly noted.”

He chuckled. “You’re stalling.”

I gave a much more nervous chuckle. “Yeah. I am.”

I pulled out my phone, and showed him a photo of me from last night. After Mom had gotten done doing my hair. 

“Oh wow, look at you,” Underhill said with an approving smile. “You look pretty. Did you do your own makeup?”

I felt myself blush. “I’m not wearing makeup in that photo.”

“You’re not? Dang. Good for you.”

I chuckled again… Actually, no, that wasn’t quite accurate; I giggled. I freaking giggled- what the hell was wrong with me? “Thanks. My mom did my hair for me.”

“So she knows?”

“Both my parents do,” I said, stirring my coffee with a spoon. “They were… Completely supportive, and completely unsurprised.”

“So, you’re-”

“I don’t know,” I cut him off. “If you were about to say the ‘t word’ that is. I don’t know yet. But… There’s a chance that I am.”

Connie came back and asked if we wanted anything to eat. Simultaneously, Underhill and I both said, “A Denver omelet, side of hashed browns.”

Connie raised an eyebrow and smirked, then jotted it down on her pad. “Sounds good, kids.”

“A woman of culture,” Underhill smiled at me again, the kind of smile that you saw in dental commercials- seriously, killer smile. 

A burst of warmth ran through me at being called a woman- Gender Euphoria? The articles certainly would have called it that. Was this… This couldn’t just be my immature ass getting off on tricking people into thinking I was trans. That would be ridiculous- no cis person would ever be happy with something like that. 

“I try,” I said, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. “I guess I just wanted to ask you- and I need you to be honest here- do you think I’m trans?”

He flinched. “Um… I’m not really sure it’s up to me whether or not you’re trans.”

“I know that, I know that, I just… My parents think I am, and I’m starting to think that maybe, MAYBE, I might be. What do you think?”

“I think that you shouldn’t be looking for someone else’s approval on this sort of thing.”

Dammit. That was a good point. 

“But at the same time, if you’re hoping I’ll say yes and tell you you’re trans-”

I scrunched up my face again, closing my eyes and nodding in spite of myself. Ugh, what is wrong with me?!

I felt a hand covering mine. I opened my eyes to find Underhill squeezing it. “Look,” he said, “I’m not an expert. Yes, my best friend is a trans girl, and I’ve learned a lot about this stuff from her. All I can really tell you is what I think she would say- which does slightly beg the question of why you wanna talk to me about this and not Faith.”

“Because she hates me,” I monotoned.

He opened and closed his mouth, then nodded. “Yeah, that’s a good point- she does. She REALLY does.”

“Not that I don’t deserve it,” I said from the corner of my mouth.

“Oh come on, don’t be like that-”

“I’m a total jerk whenever we’re both around each other.”

“Yeah, but you’re not when you’re out of the ring,” Underhill said. “You play the heel because our sport is populated mostly by weird nerds with questionable social skills- the audience likes a good douchebag. Yeah, you lay it on thick sometimes, but also Faith is terrible at reading social cues from people she doesn’t know super well.”

“Maybe I should dial it back,”  I said. “That whole schtick was one thing when I was on a winning streak. Right now… That ain’t me.”

“Heh. Maybe,” Underhill said. “Backtracking, though: if Faith were here, and she didn’t hate you, I’m sure she would tell you that wanting to be a girl and being a girl are the same thing, but that only you can decide what you want.”

“That’s good advice,” I said, trying to ignore the hollow feeling in my chest. Connie came back with our orders, as well as a single chocolate milkshake with two straws. “We didn’t order that,” I said. 

“Yeah, I put it in for you,” Connie said. “You two were being super cute, figured why not.”

“C-cute?!” I stammered. It was then that I looked down and realized Underhill’s hand was still covering mine. He seemed to realize the same thing, and slowly withdrew his hand, but still smiling that winning smile. 

“I mean, hey, we’re both real good lookin’,” he said. 

Connie gave him a thumbs-up as she walked away. I buried my face in my hands, the heat from my red cheeks burning my palms like a hot stove. 

“You wound me,” Underhill said with a laugh.

“Why?”

“Embarrassed to be assumed as my date? She wounds my fragile male ego.”

I smiled in spite of myself. “Shut up- aren’t you embarrassed? People might think you’re gay!”

“So?” Underhill shrugged. 

“So?!”

“So,” he said. “Not really a big deal to me. If it was the right guy, I could probably call myself hetero-flexible. And besides, you’re…”

“I’m…”

“A question mark,” he said. 

“Damn you.”

He rolled his eyes. “Besides, you do realize we live in southern California, yes? This is arguably the most queer friendly place on the whole of God’s green earth.”

“You… You raise an excellent point,” I acquiesced. He really did- if this, whatever it was, was a part of me I wanted to explore, I did live in one of the better places to do that in. And if I wanted to wear a dress outside my home, even if it were just to go down to the market for groceries, it wouldn’t be THAT abnormal in Venice Beach. 

He took a sip from the chocolate shake, and, on impulse, I went for a sip as well, our faces, our mouths very close together as we both sipped. It was his turn to blush, then, and I laughed in earnest and without embarrassment when he did. 

“I thought you said you didn’t mind,” I needled him.

“Lol, just caught me by surprise,” Underhill said. “Bold move, that was.”

“I’m a bold girl,” I said, the words tripping out of my mouth before I could stop them. I’d just called myself a girl without even meaning to, and it felt… It felt amazing. It felt like a hot bubble bath after a long walk, like dry socks on a damp afternoon, like the warm and soft comfort of my bed after a long day. 

Dammit. 

“That you are, ma’am,” he said. There was that smile again. 

Dammit. Dammit dammit dammit.

“You’re a good guy, Underhill,” I said. 

“Thanks. But call me Zeke.”

“You’re a good guy, Zeke,” I said, then finally took a bite of my omelet. Delicious!

“Thanks. Also, there’s actually something I wanted to ask you,” Underhill… Zeke said. 

“What’s that?” I said between bites. 

“What got you into the robot fighting game, anyway?” he asked. “For me it was just a fun thing to do with my engineering program buddies- I never expected to actually go anywhere with it.”

“... It’s a little embarrassing.”

“Calloway, we’re professional science nerds.”

“Fair point,” I said. “I, uh, always wanted to build my own Gundam, ever since I was a little kid.”

“Ayyy, I love me some Gundam.”

“You do?”

“Hell yeah! Never get to talk about it though because Faith hates it.”

“What the- she hates Gundam? She’s a robot fighter, and she hates giant robot anime?”

“Obviously she doesn’t hate giant robot anime- look what our bot is named!”

“Touche,” I said. 

“She’s strictly a super-robots girl,” Zeke said. 

“Ahhh, I see, I see,” I said. “That makes sense. No disrespect, they certainly have their place, but I lean more towards real robots.”

“Fair and valid.”

“I actually have a bunch of Gundam on Blue Ray,” I said, leaning forward in my seat. I never got to talk about Gundam with anyone, much to my chagrin, though the whole ‘no life outside of work’ thing probably contributed to that. “You wanna watch it together sometime?”

“Sure!” he said. “When works for you?”

“I’m free tonight,” I said. 

“Awesome!” he said. “Can’t wait.”

I smiled. “Me neither.”

***

Buy my books here!

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

The Playbook is the Point: How Trump Turns Words into Weapons and Targets into Enemies

Weaponizing Words, Building Fear, Silencing Dissent

James B. Greenberg

May 11, 2025

We’ve seen this script before—not just in history books, but in the memories of those who fled regimes that began with slogans and ended in silence. The pattern is familiar: label, isolate, inflame, punish, expand, normalize.

What makes Trump’s rhetoric dangerous isn’t just its cruelty—it’s the infrastructure being built around it. This isn’t style. It’s strategy.

Thanks for reading James’s Substack! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Pledge your support

He doesn’t just insult critics—he marks them. He paints targets on the backs of immigrants, trans kids, and political opponents, then lets the crowd or the state take it from there. Like authoritarians before him, he tests the boundaries—starting with the vulnerable, then his rivals, and eventually, anyone who dissents.

This is authoritarianism in real time: the weaponization of language to create moral panic and public consent for state violence.

Language sets the stage. When Trump calls immigrants “animals,” protestors “thugs,” or opponents “vermin,” he’s not speaking in metaphor—he’s establishing who’s outside the circle of empathy. In every authoritarian regime, violence begins with this redefinition of who belongs—and who does not.

Trump’s power lies in provocation. One crime becomes an “invasion.” One protest becomes a threat to the nation. It’s not sloppy—it’s surgical. Fear is the fuel, and complexity is the enemy. Blame the outsider. Purify the group. Promise control. It’s an old formula, but in a diverse society, it doesn’t unify—it divides. It turns governance into spectacle and punishment into policy.

And he doesn’t just stir fear—he markets it as safety. He creates the fire, then offers to put it out. But fear doesn’t just activate. It desensitizes. Cages, bans, raids—each more outrageous than the last—until outrage becomes background noise.

The first term targeted asylum seekers, Muslims, trans youth. Now, the targets grow bolder: mass deportations, detention camps, civil service purges, prosecutions of political opponents. What’s tolerated at the edges spreads to the center.

This isn’t chaos—it’s construction. Schedule F let him gut the professional civil service. The Insurrection Act could let him deploy troops domestically. A captured Justice Department becomes a weapon, not a shield. These are not campaign bluster. They are working plans.

Control doesn’t begin with a crackdown. It begins when the public shrugs. The lies wear us down. The spectacle numbs. And the longer we pretend this is normal politics, the more normal it becomes.

The next phase goes beyond punishing enemies. It targets resistance itself. Authoritarian regimes start with high-profile dissenters. Trump has called critics “traitors,” prosecutors “animals,” and opponents “vermin.” Expect lawsuits, surveillance, selective prosecutions, even digital “enemies lists.” Not to eliminate dissent entirely—but to scare others into silence.

The tipping point won’t be when the first critic is punished. It will be when the rest of us fall quiet.

But resistance is still possible—and it doesn’t start in Washington. It starts in community. Not just in marches or petitions, but in conversation. In how we talk to neighbors, how we rebuild trust, how we remind each other of the values democracy requires.

Propaganda isolates. Connection disrupts it. Not with shouting, but with honesty. Not with slogans, but with shared humanity.

Because democracy isn’t just a system. It’s a commitment to each other. And when we remember that, we become harder to tear apart.

Suggested Readings

Arendt, Hannah. The Origins of Totalitarianism. New York: Harcourt, 1951.

Ben-Ghiat, Ruth. Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present. New York: W. W. Norton, 2020.

Bernays, Edward. Propaganda. New York: Ig Publishing, 2005. Originally published 1928.

Lakoff, George. Don’t Think of an Elephant! Know Your Values and Frame the Debate. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2004.

Snyder, Timothy. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century. New York: Crown Publishing, 2017.

Stanley, Jason. How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them. New York: Random House, 2018.

[placegrenette]

"Gap" album thoughts.

[Edit 7 September 23: Welcome, readers of Dave Moore's Substack! I am a little abashed, like I haven't swept the floors correctly before inviting you in, since the below was written with an audience already familiar with Ninety One in mind. Ninety One is a four-member pop group based in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and active since 2015, and I have been following them fervently for several years now, largely because they make excellent-but-also-thought-provoking pop music. If you would like a more detailed introduction (and reviews of their songs), go here, and if you like what you read below, check out the essay series on idol pop I wrote featuring them back in 2020. And if the term "Bloody January" doesn't mean anything to you, see this reblogged post or this series on The Diplomat for context.]

I'm still having them. The work ain't that deep, I can imagine you saying; there's an argument that by spending so much more time thinking about this album than any of the thousands of other albums it's theoretically competing with, I'm going to IKEA-effect my way into arguing that Gap is a better album than it is. But it's just as well that I waited this long, since we now have information we didn't have access to back in early July, namely: the album seems to have tanked enough that Ninety One is presently planning to take a poorly-defined, all-encompassing, possibly-multi-year hiatus after their planned concerts in Astana on 25 August and Almaty on 1 September (which will be the eighth anniversary of their debut and the release of "Aiyptama").

I honestly don't know exactly what's going on; I've been feeding fansite Instagram Stories into machine-translation engines for a couple days now in hopes of getting more information, without much success. Apparently ZaQ was complaining on TikTok that Eaglez weren't streaming or generally appreciating the songs enough. (Keep in mind that, since there's no physical copy of Gap that we know of, the bulk of the album's contribution to Ninety One's revenue will be via streams.) The hiatus threat may simply be a poorly-thought-out, short-term PR strategy to goose Eaglez into action. I hope not; I'd like to think these guys are above blackmailing their fans. There are two other possibilities, to my mind:

Things actually aren't that bad. They pinned a lot of hopes on Gap, and cooked and recooked it; they've said several times that this album means a lot to them personally. @qforqazaq mentioned in a reply here that they've been losing ground to newer artists such as Shiza and Yenlik. They may be taking the lower-than-expected streaming numbers more to heart than they should, and acting in unexpected frustration. If that's the case, then we'll get a walking back from the "hiatus, no activities, no solo albums" stance they apparently took on TikTok fairly soon. (One argument in favor of this: I find it hard to believe that Alem would agree to commit to no solo releases. I find it even harder to believe that Veronika would stand idly by while Alem committed to no solo releases.)

Things are actually worse than they indicated, and "multi-year hiatus" should be understood to mean "we're breaking up but don't want to say so too bluntly." In this scenario, they're burnt the hell out and possibly losing money. Managing a music group post-COVID is proving overwhelming; they're losing that audience that extends them sympathy, and the opposition that has plagued them since "Aiyptama" has not gone away, in fact possibly hardened—that might explain why they haven't booked tour dates anywhere but Almaty and Astana. Disbanding-without-disbanding allows Bala to study in the United States (all I've heard is "Bala is thinking about going to the United States to study," no further indications of when, what, or where), Alem to continue the TV work he seems to enjoy, ZaQ to focus exclusively on rap, and Ace to try out acting again. If that's the case, then no amount of frantic streaming-party arrangements will dissuade them.

So now Gap has some baggage it didn't initially have, as The Album That Might Have Undone Ninety One. And if we're losing the group—I sure as hell hope not, though Scenario #2 above feels more plausible the more I think about it—then what did we get in return?

Gap didn't do what I expected it to do. Go back and look at my predictions: I'm almost 100% wrong. (Bala did cutely speak some Korean in the "Biz" behind-the-scenes video, though.) There's almost no English. There's not even a song called "Gap"! (Or, for that matter, any sign of the song that closed out ZaQ's "Angst" trailer.) One of the things it didn't do, that I was expecting it to do, was disappoint me. Almost nothing misfires. I found "Aperem Ai" fairly bland on first listen, and still am not sure what they were trying to accomplish with "Dunie," but generally the songs range from good to really good. I'll review them all one by one in upcoming weeks, but suffice to say I'd put "Blue," "Ego," and "Zulym" up there among their best works.

It could just be that my taste and the taste of the average Almaty teenager don't match up. But I have an idea about what's going on with Gap that may have made it less of an easy sell. Granted, this is an idea based on much ignorance, and if you know I'm wrong, you should absolutely pop into the notes or my (unreliable) Ask box and say so. Or reblog. Or email me. Or post to /r/stupidamericans. (It exists!) As soon as better-informed people shoot my theory down I'll update. That said, here goes:

One of my wrong predictions was that we wouldn't get English subs for most of the album. As it turned out, every song got official English subs with its YouTube upload. Hooray! So I pulled all nine SRT files and compiled them into a Google Document, because after my first listen or two of "Zulym," especially, I started to wonder if there was a theme poking out.

I shouldn't make too much of this, translation difficulties being what they are, but it hasn't been all that clear what the album is about. In the Esquire podcast ZaQ claimed that the Gap era stretches back before the album and will continue after the album (not for much longer if y'all break up, she mutters bitterly). I think @bbcblackjack said they said it was mostly about things in their personal lives, but a lot of this album reads unhappily, and their lead lyric-writer is, as best we know, happily married. Ace said at one point that it was a transformation of their grief. But grief over what?

Let's go to the English lyrics:

Bad habits are quickly transmitted, and who did you adopt yours from? If you are looking for energy at the bottom of darkness, you must know that it will absorb you The power of today is the brain Only a fool doesn't know it  Because he's just an unloved child in a ruined house He is seeking the debt he gave to love in the crowd and devouring others It's like a cycle of depression, get out of it, love yourself! ("Jur Mapelep")

It's like I'm disappearing, even if you hug me ("Tartty")

The looted soul is in the same state, Looking for own heart at the bottom of the wine In this city there are only zombies There is no sense in them! Just like in you! The soul locked in your body is howling... Don’t look in the mirror at night Don’t look in the mirror at night Otherwise you’ll see who’s inside there  Otherwise you’ll see who’s inside there  There’s sadness there, there’s the night there Your smile won’t return there now ("Blue")

To retreat without fighting Together from the same fate Is pure defeat Such an end Is mutual trauma That does not pity anyone - What kind of weapon is this? ("Ottegi"; that's the chorus)

What happened to this world It is filled with anger and pain Who will heal the heart That hurts so much? What happened to this world When will we change it? Love is the last fortress For humanity I'll run away from the city, I'll run away from home I’m running away from myself, when will I start to believe in myself? I’m running away from everyone, I’m running away from the world I’m running away from you, when will I come to myself? I’m hiding once again, and coming out, I’m suffocating An evil, destroyed world I’m running away from my own guise, I remain alone How many people like me are there? ("Dunie")

They say there are only ashes and burns left after us... Your external point of view on me Is wrong, because the screen is blue, but not because of us but not because of us They say about us we had sold our souls, their lives Are like a sweet biscuit And I just worked tirelessly, Yo, if you move like me, You'll catch fire on the first day ("Ego")

It's definitely the end of the world... Like a villain in love  Leaving nothing of this world I’ll ruthlessly burn everything to ashes... It is necessary to go through various difficulties, work hard, to burn everything!... I can do it for the sake of love, and they can just do it.  Who's the real villain? Huh?  Who's the real villain? ("Zulym")

So there's a great many invocations of "the city," and a desire to get away from a city full of zombies; a lot of references to fire, smoke, ashes, and the destruction of burning everything down; a number of references to the "villain"; a desire to be the villain; an idea that "the villain" actually gets things done, even if the actions are destructive. Otherwise it's just running, hiding, retreating without fighting, and a subsequent self-contempt.

Y'all, if there's an obvious candidate for "the city" in Ninety One's work, it's Almaty. And, for those of us who weren't there, a reminder: this is what Almaty looked like a year and a half ago.

Another reminder: as best we know the guys weren't able to do anything. "Batyr and I were going to go to the rally," Ace told Elle last year, "but when we heard explosions outside the window we changed our minds." (I've since heard that one of those explosions was near enough to Alem and Veronika's home that they had to flee.) Their city was burning around them, and they couldn't stop it, and they couldn't get online, and whatever hopes they had for a better-governed Kazakhstan melted away minute by minute, and a year and a half later they still haven't been able to do anything. In short: I think Gap is Ninety One's reaction to Bloody January.

Now, again, they haven't said this. So it could be that I'm totally off the mark. And I really have no idea what conversations about Bloody January look like in Kazakhstan right now. It could be that there's lots of room to talk about the protests and the destruction and the general awfulness openly, and Ninety One's restraint makes them look weak-kneed. It could be that there's no room to talk about the protests and the destruction et cetera, and Gap is an unwelcome downer. If you're going to make pop songs, the Kazakhstani populace may be saying to Ninety One, then make, you know, pop songs. Entertain us. Leave your grief out of it.

And Ninety One did in fact try to make pop songs. "Aperem Ai" aims to be a sweet little love ditty; I'm not surprised they've marked it as the next single and plastered it all over their TikTok. "Tartty" is a very pretty gift for your lo-fi playlist. "Blue" is Ninety One's equivalent of "Midnight Sky." "Ego" is a relatively straightforward assert-our-virtues-destroy-our-enemies-and-provoke-the-lamentations-of-their-women track. But Gap begins with "Who is real here? Who is real now?" and ends with "Who's the real villain?" As if the guys can't get away from the possibility that they're the villains, even though they didn't burn anything. They sure don't seem to think they're the heroes. Which may be why "Biz," as an introductory volley, sounds less convincing than "Bata" and "Men Emes" did.

I think it's a better album for including the grief, for what it's worth. But then, I would. One of the things I've loved about them all along—emphasis on "long," it'll be seven years come November—is that they always seemed to want to do more than just make pretty pop songs, and do more with their pretty pop songs than is usual. It makes them a richer and more interesting group. You think I could have written essay after essay about just any group? But it's possible their ambition, combined with Kazakhstan's current ambiguously ominous political situation, ended up coming back to bite them.

I really hope not. Obviously. I'd rather have them separate and fulfilled than together and frustrated, but more than either of those I'd rather they be able to accomplish what they want to accomplish as Ninety One, and not walk away feeling battered and impotent. Greedily; I'll miss them, if they go. It'll feel like a meaner, less interesting world without them.

But y'all tell me if I'm way off base. And I will be doing individual song reviews: Spotify has credits available (albeit not separated into music and lyrics). Look for those coming up, though I may not be able to get to them right away; I had to put off some chores to get this written.