Mitch Wagner

“Karens for Hire”—slogan, “We Karen so you don’t have to”—promises “to harness the power of accomplished complainers in the service of beaten-down customers, abused tenants and anyone else with a dispute that outstripped their own capacity to carp.”

Cutting through customer service doom-loops by calling in a ‘Karen’

Steve Hendrix writes this for The Washington Post as a lighthearted story about a plucky startup seeing a problem and fixing it. Doing well by doing good. American entrepreneurial spirit at its finest.

But this is also a story about American society being fundamentally broken.

The Real History Behind ‘The Woman King’ | The Agojie Warriors of Dahomey. By Meilan Solly at Smithsonian Magazine.

The movie’s depiction of the Agojie army of elite women warriors is true-to-life. But Dahomey in real life was a brutal, imperial autocracy and enthusiastic supporter of slavery and the slave trade.

We liked the movie—much better than “Black Panther,” which I thought had too much superhero folderol. “The Woman King” was about 30-45 minutes too long, but most movies today are.

A secularised Jewish American thinks about celebrating Christmas. As a secularized Jewish American, I relate.

Ben Werdmuller: Christmas, the eighth night, and me.

I’ve had essentially no personal encounters with anti-Semitism in my own life—that I’m aware of.

Matt Stoller: Private Equity Gave Your Bank Password to Hackers

Francisco Partners and Evergreen Coast Capital Corp own LastPass. They raised prices, and then fumbled security. You had one job guys!

…

At this point, it’s time to recognize that ownership and management of software firms by private equity is itself a security risk.

Busloads of migrants dropped off at vice president’s DC home on Christmas Eve

The Bible literally says not to do shit like this. Matthew 25:31 and following.

Feline Navidad!

Building a keyboard with a rotary dial instead of a number pad.

In rural Georgia, an unlikely rebel against Trumpism. By Stephanie McCrummen at the Washington Post.

Johnson, a 33-year-old white electrician with no college degree from rural Georgia, rejects hate.

I can’t decide whether I think this is a great profile, or whether it’s patronizing and elitist.

Fleece knobby dog, friends!

We watched the first episode of the first season of “Yellowstone.” We liked it. It’s like “Succession.”

There should be a Yellowstone/Succession crossover.

And it should have Doctor Who, too. Because everything is better with the Doctor.