Listening to the Jan 6 referrals and then reading the twitter files #7 afterwards, not so much.
I think what disturbs me more than anything else is seeing how many people are so quick to justify any means for the sake of desired ends.
Devouring every mention of the sins of opponents and discarding any mention of the sins of allies.
I suppose we shouldn't be surprised that we're down to eating each other's garbage now.
This shit is so gonna come back to bite us all in the ass someday.

but I can't think of a show that does better when it comes to demonstrating practical economics.
In fact, I'd go so far as to say it does for Economics and History what Mythbusters did for Science.
Rick's insistence that he's a businessman and needs to make a profit could be repetitive and annoying. But instead it grounds the show in pointing out the limits of reality, no matter what the age, rarity, or cool factor of the macguffin of the moment is. It's interesting without being harsh or ugly. It's not mundane and boring like a trip to get groceries, but it doesn't have the desperation of a payday loan or something of that nature. It's a neat thing for currency exchange every time, and the audience gets to see the neat thing no matter how the deal goes or even if it happens.
The fact that their guest experts all look like they were doing a panel at a Steampunk con when Rick gave them the call just adds to the fun.

In most social medias, the users are the product. That's why it's free. The algorithm is ostensibly designed to sell ad space targeted to users most likely to purchase the product. A long-term goal would be to show enough of what the users want to keep them coming back, but enough targeted ads to continue being profitable.

Most of the time, this only irritates the users, who want to see the people they want to see first and foremost, and have never liked ads anywhere, ever.

Occasionally they hit it out of the park.

There's an ad for a prop house with the tagline "Throw this at an actor" for their latest line of breakaway stuff, and I swear the algorithm can tell I'm still laughing at it.

Then there's tiktok.

Tiktok's algorithm is light-years ahead of any other social because it keeps giving you what you, the user, want. I noticed this when a friend of mine (who for lack of a better term, has been an influencer since before the term was coined) noticed that she was on there longer and longer without her noticing. Ads seem almost like an afterthought on tiktok. They're definitely nowhere near the profit-driven algorithms that govern other sites, which is a huge part of tiktok's popularity.

The question is, "why?"

I got the answer when I noticed a release in the national security news that a celebrity visitor to the white house had been tracked while they were there through tiktok when they used the app on the grounds.

Why?

Tiktok may not be owned by the CCP. But they are definitely controlled by the CCP. And the CCp isn't interested in selling ad space.

Ergo, the users aren't tiktok's product.

The real-time location of their users is tiktok's product.

Hence, the CCP has been able to track numerous VIP's, including several high-ranking government officials, through a social media phone app designed to upload real-time location data on a regular basis.

Now, so far, the CCP has only been shown to use this data against their own people. CCP police have set up shop in several American cities, targeting Chinese dissidents and refugees, threatening them and their families back in the PRC. Three were recently convicted in a court case of harassing, threatening, and even assaulting Chinese students here in the U.S.

Is this a danger to ordinary Americans?

Not yet. But imagine the political party you hate the most being able to know where you are within about 100 yards at any given time because the one site all your friends and the people you like are on is telling them.

Take care of yourselves out there.