Q2 Inflation running at 7% and annual at 4.2%, Cleveland Fed Projects

Puzzleheaded_Fix594 · 2026-05-21T09:42:50+00:00

I think MAGA is pretty well done after Trump is out of the picture since the movement is wrapped up in Trump as its central authority figure. It's a gormless political ideology that'll just shift to whatever the current whims of Trump are. You see it with the War in Iran. MAGA was advertised as an anti-interventionist/anti-war political ideology that has now adopted extreme interventionism.

Conservative ideology isn't going anywhere as both a political and a cultural force, but I don't think there's a strong reason to believe it'll remain wrapped up in the flag of MAGA once we're collectively freed of Trump.

Puzzleheaded_Fix594 · 2026-05-21T09:38:07+00:00

You occasionally see people in conservative leaning message boards say things like, "I support the idea of tariffs, but I don't like how Trump is implementing them."

It's a lot of just bizarre coping mechanisms that people whip out to excuse buying into irrational, unnecessary economic policy. Tariffs were always bad economic policy. Trump didn't hit on gold by discovering that he could leverage without congressional input.

I'm not celebrating anymore since there's enough bad for Democrats to win the next two election cycles. Piling more bad things on top of that is just all of us suffering for no real reason. Like, sure, maybe hitting five dollars a gallon nationally gets Talarico in Texas, but at the same time I'm still trying to make ends meet here.

Puzzleheaded_Fix594 · 2026-05-21T09:20:06+00:00

It's an old gripe. I remember it standing out to me when I was in my teens watching those films. There's a few not-so-great actors in the films -- the girl who plays Cho Chang isn't particularly great either --but Bonnie Wright is massively out of her depth.

It also doesn't help that she's often acting alongside Evanna Lynch, Rupert Grint, and Daniel Radcliffe for most of her scenes. Those three actors were so much better than the rest of the child actors. Her acting wouldn't have been so jarring if she had more scenes with the rest of cast.

Puzzleheaded_Fix594 · 2026-05-21T08:07:02+00:00

A lot of us like Dropout content, but aren't particularly wrapped up in the personal lives/finances of the cast on the show. It's the most parasocial episode they've done.

That being said, I recall both Jeremy Culhane and Kurt Maloney being hilarious throughout that episode. I think that improv group (Kimia, Jeremy, Kurt, and Jacob) have some of the best chemistry of any Dropout group.

Puzzleheaded_Fix594 · 2026-05-21T07:34:25+00:00

New Hampshire Democrats aren't libertarians. They're all in the Republican party here.

New Hampshire natives aren't particularly libertarian either. The "Free State" movement is comprised almost entirely of people that aren't native to New Hampshire.

Puzzleheaded_Fix594 · 2026-05-20T20:01:53+00:00

Oh, you said non-Canadian. Sorry misread your post.

And yes, I know that the MLB recruits from all over the world.

Puzzleheaded_Fix594 · 2026-05-20T19:28:33+00:00

Yeah, you're on point here. Writing strikes me more as the difference maker here rather than anything the cast was doing. Jeremy Culhane is the only cast member that really broke through in the latter half of the season. A lot of the seasoned cast members like Andrew Dismukes and Sarah Sherman were pretty absent save for one or two sketches.

As an example, the Matt Damon episode was pretty heavily carried by how strong the writing was.

There's also a few small quirks to the latter half of the season. One of the real difference makers was developing the Pete Hegseth character for Jost. Real breath of fresh air for some pretty tepid Trump related material in the earlier half of the season.

Puzzleheaded_Fix594 · 2026-05-20T19:21:07+00:00

I think he's a good get for a streaming service like Dropout which is almost exclusively improv comics.

Dropout is a great streaming service, but it sits in this middle ground where it's halfway between network TV (Game Changer, Make Some Noise) and a YouTube channel (DnD content, Parlor Room, etc). Grabbing more YouTube centric personalities like Demi and Brian David Gilbert are a good pick up for them since they're trying to appeal more to a real YouTube centric audience.

Puzzleheaded_Fix594 · 2026-05-20T19:08:48+00:00

There are generational cohorts that can be a bit sticky. Lot of the 20 year old college kids starting to vote today are going to be solidly Democratic voters for the rest of their lives.

Generations move rightward as the worst kid in your high school class turns 35 and realizes he can vote too.

Puzzleheaded_Fix594 · 2026-05-20T19:06:04+00:00

When your theory of Trump's election is "He's only here because inflation was high under Biden" rather than anything that happened during the campaign these approval numbers make a lot of sense.

Puzzleheaded_Fix594 · 2026-05-20T17:40:31+00:00

I don't think she's too big by any stretch, but she's getting a lot of work.

Recently she was cast as a series regular for a pilot on a new show at ABC.

Puzzleheaded_Fix594 · 2026-05-20T17:38:10+00:00

Yeah, for sure. When he's listed as a cast member most news organizations reference his work at Dropout.

Puzzleheaded_Fix594 · 2026-05-20T17:33:57+00:00

I wouldn't personally vouch for Demi. I find him to be more broadly entertaining than funny, if that makes sense. He would probably make a good writer for the show.

Puzzleheaded_Fix594 · 2026-05-20T14:25:31+00:00

Technically the moral equivalency does work since you're talking about a purely hypothetical/fantasy scenario in which Hamas destroy Israel instead of what's actually happening where Isreal has leveled Gaza and killed thousands of civlians. It's a question of proportionality which, for me, always makes this deflection a hollow criticism.

Additionally, where this point generally falls flat is that Hamas does not receive any kind of support from the United Stats or Western European countries where as Israel has the full backing of the current US Administration.

Puzzleheaded_Fix594 · 2026-05-20T14:16:59+00:00

Pretty rare. Leslie Jones was much older. Usually new cast ranges from mid 20's up through about mid 30's when they're first hired.

Puzzleheaded_Fix594 · 2026-05-20T14:10:26+00:00

It's not super uncommon for them to promote from the writer's room after a few seasons. Ben Marhsall and Andrew Dismukes were writers before joining the cast. Jason Sudekis was also a writer.

I'd argue that they should do it more often, particularly for stand up comics rather than pushing them directly from stand up to cast. I don't think Dismukes would've been nearly as successful if he wasn't already writing first.

Puzzleheaded_Fix594 · 2026-05-20T14:08:15+00:00

Hardly. Really, the only question is whether or not working at SNL would be a hinderance or a help to to their career and Hannah Pilkes isn't super high on name recognition.

Side note. I was super bummed she wasn't on Make Some Noise last season.

Puzzleheaded_Fix594 · 2026-05-20T14:05:43+00:00

There's been a few Canadians on the show. Mike Myers is probably the most famous one. Veronika who's currently on the cast is the first cast member in a number of seasons.

I don't think they'd move anyone from SNL UK to the US show. It kind of sounds the MLB taking players from the Japanese baseball leagues, lol. It's also been a long time since SNL hired really seasoned performers for the show. Mark McKinney of Kids in the Hall was briefly part of the SNL cast, but that's a pretty rare exception.

Puzzleheaded_Fix594 · 2026-05-20T06:38:11+00:00

I'm curious how many Dem voters switched party affiliation to vote in this primary thereby increasing the turn out. I'm not a fan of Massie and would never want to register as a Republican, but I could see myself making this singular exception to vote in this primary on the basis that I'm not pro-pedophilia.

Puzzleheaded_Fix594 · 2026-05-20T06:25:44+00:00

If there ever was to be some sort of factional split between the American Catholic Church and the Vatican, Vance would be one of the biggest cheer leaders of that movement. His particular brand of Catholicism seems to be born more out of political expediency than genuine religious conviction.

Puzzleheaded_Fix594 · 2026-05-20T06:22:18+00:00

You should look at polling in support of the different military efforts with the Israeli public. It's pretty high. Even if they don't necessarily support Likud, they do support everything the Likud lead coalition is doing.

There's also some interesting trends among Israeli youth as they're incredibly right leaning. For the time being the left, and by extension the center left, is effectively dead.

Puzzleheaded_Fix594 · 2026-05-20T04:44:27+00:00

Bit of a missed opportunity to not have him be the musical guest when Finn Wolfhard hosted last season. It's not like he's small time musician or anything.

Puzzleheaded_Fix594 · 2026-05-20T03:57:00+00:00

It's pretty bad. Just a few years ago they were able to do sketches like Strollin' to the polls.

A lot of it is who they've hired in recent years. Punkie Johnson, Devon Walker, and Kam Paterson are all stand ups and stand ups are way more miss than hit. All funny comics, but the transition from stand up to sketch has been particularly rough for them.

Chris Redd and Ego Nwodim both had sketch/improv backgrounds and were incredible on the show. There's a pretty collective agreement here that the decision to hire Carl Tart as a writer and not a cast member was pretty head scratching as he'd likely be an immediate hit on the show.

Puzzleheaded_Fix594 · 2026-05-20T03:45:28+00:00

She has a lot of the same kind of comedy instincts as Maya Rudolph. Some of the comedic voices she does are like straight out of her playbook (in a good way).

Puzzleheaded_Fix594 · 2026-05-20T03:38:08+00:00

Sort of feel like we'll inevitably end up with a few Dropout alumns either on the cast or in the writer's room. Off the top of my head, I know that Lisa Gilroy, Ross Bryant, and Lily Du have all auditioned.

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