DL Open Thread Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025

Is the AI revolution a boom or a bubble? A recent analysis found that 80% of the growth in the stock market is in tech stocks, with much of the capital flowing in from overseas. What worries some analysts is the circular nature of a handful of companies investing in each other. Others worry that AI is being touted as a panacea for many of the country’s Trump-generated economic ills, from tariffs to immigration-related labor shortages.

Another troubling sign: Boosters hand-wave away concerns about water use and energy demands, which threaten to drive costs higher. Not a problem, the pollyannas insist: We’ll just build more nuclear power plants. What could go wrong? It’s not as if rates are stable otherwise. Delmarva Power just asked to nearly double its rates for natural gas, and Chesapeake Utilities wants a 30% increase. The Public Utilities Commission says there’s not much they can do to stop it.

Whatever happens, don’t count on legacy media like CBS News to tell you about it. They just named right-wing contrarian Bari Weiss to boss it. If the name is unfamiliar, she’s a former New York Times op-ed columnist who quit in a huff because the place was too woke. Oh, and she’s a supporter of the Israeli slaughter in Gaza. I’d boycott it, but as with most things I would boycott, I already don’t use it.

To be fair, almost all legacy media has shown itself less than useless ever since Trump entered politics. Citizen journalists are doing what they can – for example, someone at Daily Kos analyzed how Republican defunding of Obamacare will further impoverish struggling households, with examples of real numbers. The upshot is that a lot of people will simply go without insurance because they can’t afford the rate increases and higher deductibles.

Though it’s hard to tell from the response in most corners, craven knuckling-under isn’t the only possible answer. I’ve never been a Gavin Newsom fan, but credit where it’s due: He knows how to fight back, and I don’t mean his Trump-trolling social media account. The administration is trying to blackmail universities into adopting its anti-Black agenda by threatening to withhold funds. Newsom countered by declaring that any university that does so will lose all state funding, which would cost them even more. Don’t expect that attitude to spread to Delaware.

The floor’s yours.