Jon Basalyga

@nejsnave They are always reasonable

damn everyone who has forced this to the point where I have no choice but to nod along with MEGYN KELLY AND PIERS MORGAN like they sound reasonable 😱

@TiffanyFong This is exactly the job I have been looking for

I wanted this to be real so badly 💔

Leave aside your views of the Iran War or the CNN melodrama of Scott Jennings yelling: "get your fucking finger out of my face!" What's most notable is that Scott Jennings became enraged at exactly the moment when his history of working in the Bush/Cheney Adm was raised, and it was pointed out that he and his allies sold the Iraq War to the American public based on the *exact arguments and scripts* Jennings is now using to sell the Iran War to Americans (WMDs, terror state, oppressed their own people, can't wait for a mushroom cloud, etc. etc.). The DC swamp is so accountability-free that they all think they're entitled to have everyone just forget -- and not hold against them -- that they deceived the country into a historically disastrous and criminal invasion of Iraq, only to now return to use the same exact mentality, ideology, tactics and narratives to sell this new war against a country bordering Iraq, all as if it none of it ever happened! That Jennings and countless media and political elites are using the same arguments to justify the Iran War that they used for Iraq doesn't, of course, by itself prove that the new pro-war arguments are wrong. But OF COURSE that should be a vital factor in determining the credibility of these people and their assertions. And it should be the main metric for determining whether these are the people who should be presented as experts and listened to when advocating the very war policies that disgraced them when they defended them 20 years ago. In no other profession or sub-culture would such catastrophic error (or deceit) be deemed irrelevant. But because this basic standard would reputationally harm and disqualify the bulk of the DC political and media class on a bipartisan basis, they all unite to pretend it never happened or at least implicitly agree that it's irrelevant. The CNN guest violated that implicit self-protective taboo against raising it, and that's what sparked Jennings' rage.

The CEO of Spirit Airlines should get a chance to arm wrestle its creditors and secure $500m to avoid shutting down. There is industry precedence: in 1992, Southwest Airlines had the motto “Just Plane Smart”. Another aviation firm had the motto “Plane Smart”. The trademark dispute was resolved with an arm-wrestling match between the CEOs. It was dubbed “Malice In Dallas” and held at a 4,500-seat wrestling venue. Despite smoking a cigarette, legendary Southwest CEO Herb Kelleher somehow lost to Steven Aviations’ Kurt Herwald. In the end, Southwest kept its slogan in exchange for a $5k charity donation.

Stupid that of twats

The same person who helped block the Jetblue and Spirit M&A is now complaining about fewer choices for consumers You literally cannot make this up

She is a supid bitch, this one

@GuruAnaerobic Run fast to run faster

"Run slow to run fast" is getting boring now. I've known many runners who can run slow for long distances, but can't run fast.

Spirit Airlines (1992-2026) Thanks for the memories. Special moments that we will always remember. 🔊 ... sound on

@ewarren Stupid

The Big Four airlines (American, Delta, Southwest, United) control 75% of the U.S. market. Fewer choices = higher prices for you.

Yet another proof that the US is completely agreement-incapable. It's pretty crazy when you think about it: they made the EU sign a deal that was egregiously one-sided in their favor - basically a colonial treaty - which the EU justified signing by saying it prevented higher tariffs on EU cars. And the US just violated the latter 🤦‍♂️ I'm not holding my breath but hopefully this time - unlike the previous times - Europeans learn this lesson: accommodating the US is literally worse than useless.

Joe Biden killed Spirit Airlines. And anti-business, anti-market politicians like Elizabeth Warren celebrated as he did so. Spirit has been in financial distress for years. Its ultra low-cost operating model simply no longer works. Back in 2022, though, JetBlue offered Spirit a lifeline. JetBlue bid to acquire the struggling airline for $3.8B, and Spirit’s shareholders accepted the deal. The Spirit brand would have been retired, and the interior of the jets would have been somewhat reconfigured (more premium seats, more legroom, no more inserting a quarter to use the lavatory, etc.). The core of what made Spirit “Spirit”—good, bad, and ugly alike—would have changed. But the majority of flight routes would have been preserved, and most Spirit employees would have kept their jobs. Given the sizable challenges to Spirit’s business model—as well as the company’s weak balance sheet—it was the best outcome any of its stakeholders could have hoped for. But that wasn’t good enough for the Biden administration, nor for politicians like Senator Warren (who has never seen a dollar of shareholder value she didn’t wish to tax, regulate, or otherwise strangle out of existence). In 2023, the Biden DOJ sued to block the deal. In January 2024, a judge ruled in the DOJ’s favor, and the deal was dead by March. By November 2024, Spirit was in Chapter 11 bankruptcy; after emerging with a restructured balance sheet in early 2025, it would file for Chapter 11 again—a rare “double dip” bankruptcy process—less than a year later, in August 2025. And now, possibly as early as this weekend, Spirit will enter liquidation. Its planes will be parceled out to the highest bidders, where they will likely fly completely different routes across the US. Its pilots will land safely on their feet (though they, too, may have to relocate their families to new home bases), as will some flight attendants. Most mechanics and other ground crew are probably out of luck—and jobs. The Biden administration’s lawsuit against JetBlue all but guaranteed this. And the worst part is, anyone could have predicted it (in fact, countless people across the aviation and finance worlds did just that). When the DOJ or FTC sues to block an M&A deal, it typically does so by arguing the post-transaction market will be too concentrated (you’ll hear something called the Herfindahl-Hirschman index referenced to argue this; and don’t worry, the rest of us can’t pronounce it either). But this was not the argument the Biden DOJ made. The DOJ instead argued that Spirit, as an independent company, charged so little that it created a disproportionate downward pricing effect that affected the rest of the airline industry. In other words, Spirit was so cheap that it couldn’t be allowed to be acquired by a competitor, lest the entire airline industry be able to raise prices. It’s analogous to saying the dirty Arby’s in my town can’t shut down, or else the steak house across the city might be able to charge more. But here’s the thing: Those disproportionately downward prices meant Spirit wasn’t viable as a business. Unlike legacy carriers such as United—which now generate a large share of profit from premium seats—Spirit does not offer premium seats with which it can subsidize its lower-cost fares. ALL of Spirit’s fares are ultra low-cost tickets, with ultra low margins for the company. And now, the company is about to die. So way to go, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Lina Khan and all the rest of you who—despite barely having held private-sector jobs, let alone built companies or been responsible for payroll—know what a business should do better than its shareholders, board of directors, executives, employees, investment bankers, and lawyers. Job well done. I hope you’re proud.

Thank you Elizabeth Warren for killing Spirit Airlines, a budget airline for low income consumers

This has turned into a hill I am willing to die on (strong opinion, strongly held). The falling birthrates across the *entire* developed world are a combination of 3 things. 1) Opportunity cost. There's simply more shit to do that looks like a lot of fun/takes time. 2) Individualism. As western culture spreads, individual values over community take precedent. 3) Work culture. This is especially true in S.Korea and Japan. There isnt much time built in to raise a family (or do much else), which effectively leads back to number 1. Many countries have tried tax and monetary incentives (Hungary, Russia, Italy, Singapore, Japan) with little/no effect When talking of the birthrates in the United States, two important things are forgotten. 1) Before the early 1970s, there weren't even any seriously viable ways for most women to survive outside of marriage and men were looked down on for NOT having a family–often passed over for jobs or not rented to. 2) The post war baby boom was a bit of an anamoly. People only had a lot of kids because they *had* to. In the United States, you can see as child mortality decreased (better medicine and tech), so did the birthrate, with a pretty sharp decline from the 1900s to the 1940s. What we're seeing is an uncomfortable truth that we should be honest about if we ever want to reverse it: When the shackles are off, and there's no pressing need, many people opt out of having kids. *Note: I don't think I'll be alive to see it, but the only way to reverse this trend is to put the shackles back on a la A Handmaiden's Tale.

"One categorical: it is easier to fast than diet. You cannot be “slightly” kosher or halal by only eating a small portion of ham." - Nassim Nicholas Taleb in The Bed of Procrustes

When it comes to lifelong fitness and health, systems are more effective than willpower. However, self-concept is more effective than systems. This is why I will ALWAYS have a six-pack. I perceive myself as someone who has a six-pack - it is inconceivable not to have one, the dissonance would be too great. Total self disgust. Thus, having a six-pack is not living in food denial or anything I try to achieve. It's a manifestation of my inner-world. My six-pack is impervious to the external world. When you have a "I am a fit and healthy human being" self-concept, you are fit for life. No effort required.

fuck you

"What I actually learned is that position sizing is probably 70 to 80 percent of the equation. It's not just about being right or wrong, it's about how much you make when you're right." — Stanley Druckenmiller

The kind of guy who would call his wife “fish head with no cannons” while simultaneously blowing up his career