The White Sun, 39th Day of Childwinter, 526 M.E. (Castor): It's one thing to live in "interesting" times and another to live in "exciting" times. But we appear to be living in "ridiculous" times where I have to check multiple sources to ascertain that a headline isn't, in fact, from The Onion. I literally could not believe that even the Stable Genius would post a meme as blatantly racist as the notorious video he posted last week until I saw it referenced in the NY Times, The Guardian, and whatever they're calling MSNBC now, my triangulation of sources for confirming the veracity of current events.    

Not The Onion: "Rightwing Critics Blame Mamdani as New York Snow Fails to Melt" (The Guardian). Actor Debra Messing complained, “The streets are a disaster. It hasn’t snowed in 5 days and the streets still haven’t been cleared.” Michael Rapaport posted a video showing snow on a New York street, and said, “I need to know who’s responsible for the dog doo doo” (um, dogs?). The New York Post noted, “The snow is still here," and "we’ve got record cold temperatures.” Sadly, The Guardian needed to point out that the mayor has little power over the temperature of the city. 

As a point of fact, some 2,500 sanitation workers worked 12-hour shifts to remove snow and collect garbage after the storm, and the issue wasn't just the snowfall but the lingering cold. Previous mayors have also been criticized for their response to NYC snow - in 2014, Bill de Blasio was accused of neglecting the wealthy Upper East Side in favor of Brooklyn and Queens, and Michael Bloomberg faced criticism when some streets went unplowed for days following 20 inches of snow.

Separately, in not a Not-The-Onion headline, the Guardian reported that US companies are falsely blaming artificial intelligence for job losses. The unsurprising actual reasons for the layoffs include greed, i.e., maximizing profits, the effects of the Stable Genius' tariffs, and possibly over-hiring during the covids. In short, the CEOs are engaged in “AI-washing.”

In 2025, AI was cited as a reason for more than 54,000 layoffs. Amazon explained they trimmed staff because AI, "the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the internet," requires them to "be organized more leanly.“ Hewlett-Packard said the company will use AI to “improve customer satisfaction and boost productivity," which also requires the company to cut 6,000 people in the next years. Duolingo announced that the company will “gradually stop using contractors to do work that AI can handle.”

However, a January report from a market research firm notes that while companies can use AI to replace people working in call centers and technical writing, apps don't currently exist that can replace most other occupations and probably won’t anytime soon. They project that only 6% of US jobs will be automated by 2030.

The report noted that tariffs were cited as the reasons for fewer than 8,000 layoffs, a fraction of the number attributed to AI. However, there's a reluctance for companies to say anything negative about the economic impacts of the Stable Genius' policies due to fear of retribution, but by saying that the layoffs are due to efficiencies created by AI, they avoid a potential confrontation. 

Companies also over-hired during the pandemic due to low interest rates and talent wars, but rather than admit errors, CEOs blame "right-sizing" on AI.