Wed. Jan. 14, 2026 – “you can’t broad stroke it”

By Nick Flandrey on January 14th, 2026 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

Well, maybe we will get a bit more misty drizzle today. We got some the last two days. Not much, barely got the street wet, but still enough to make it slick on the roads and to make it even moister than usual. Weather map shows clear, but I’m still going with overcast and threatening.

I spent most of the day messing with computers. Far too much effort and time on that stupid Chromebook. Far too little time on selling or getting stuff ready to sell. And too much time on domestic bliss. Oh well, momentum lost.

We’ll see if I can get any back today. Depends mostly on the weather I think. Who am I kidding? It depends entirely on me. And I’m slack. Now, acknowledging that, we are still going to try. At least I don’t have 2 ft of snow to deal with.

If I can poke at 4 different project today, and still make dinner, I’ll call it a good day.

I won’t even count stacking amongst the 4.

nick

*title was a youtuber lamenting criticism of a brand that encompassed a wide variety of choices. I disagree. If the brand doesn’t have at least some continuity across the choices, it isn’t really a brand, just a collection of stuff. And broad strokes act as a summary, letting you move to big picture discussions without getting bogged down in details.

15 Comments and discussion on "Wed. Jan. 14, 2026 – “you can’t broad stroke it”"

Denis says:

14 January 2026 at 03:55

Wednesday. Good morning!

Short schrift this morning. I have to get to the fang doctor, and mustn’t be late. Talk among yourselves.

2
Denis says:

14 January 2026 at 03:57

P.S.

You can’t broad stroke it, but you mustn’t short stroke it!

IYKYK

2
Greg Norton says:

14 January 2026 at 07:25

smart funny fellow

I was getting his daily Dilbert Reborn comics in my email until about last Tuesday. He was behind, it was the Dec 26, 2025 strip about Dilbert buying a new house and getting a great deal. Upon entering the house after buying the house unseen, Dilbert and Dogbert found a skeleton in the living room in a hole in the floor.

I saw the first ex-wife’s posting in my YouTube subscription yesterday.

I believe Adams deliberately let himself get cancelled rather than leave the Dilbert IP behind to fund the second ex-wife’s lifestyle.

Another Bang Bang from what I understand.

2
Greg Norton says:

14 January 2026 at 07:36

Easy come, easy go, and I already sold the family farm. I feel especially bad for my coworkers who had to declare bankruptcy. At least I was in a position to retire and not actively trying to raise a family after losing a salary.

DEI is over in IT but management has gone back to their old favorite – age discrimination.

I also heard a management type use the relatively new “on the spectrum” label behind the back of someone who was pushing back on a legitimate technical issue late last week.

That line always flips the “bozo bit” in my head about the individual applying the label.

I never heard that before moving to Austin. Ironically, it seems like most of the management types here are on Adderall (men), Wellbutrin (women), and/or T-therapy (both).

1
Nick Flandrey says:

14 January 2026 at 07:55

People in the US always look for a shortcut or pharma helper first. Propaganda and conditioning are strong there.

————–

47F and the coffee is brewing. Kids are both moving, wife is not. Sky looks clear to the east.

————–

Weird dreams this morning, full color, full plot.

n

1
Nick Flandrey says:

14 January 2026 at 08:00

And then there is Clarence Carter. When I was faking my ID and hanging out in a little college bar in Indiana, this was a several times a night favorite on the juke box.

n
Greg Norton says:

14 January 2026 at 08:06

People in the US always look for a shortcut or pharma helper first. Propaganda and conditioning are strong there.

Something is coming at my employer in the next few months, whether or not the Monkey Trick runs out of gas during that period.

The stock is at around the same point now as it was when the execs got their stock grants last Spring.
drwilliams says:

14 January 2026 at 08:45

Harmeet Dhillon Refutes Claim That Lefty DOJ Lawyers Rage-Quit Over Handling of ICE Shooting (Updated)

“This is fake news,” Dhillon told The Daily Wire of the story. “No division employee quit.”

Three people applied for early retirement the day before the shooting, which occurred on January 7 in Minneapolis, Dhillon said. Those three people gave notice weeks before the shooting took place, and the fourth person mentioned in the story put in for retirement in early December, over a month before the shooting took place.

Two of the other people that the MS Now story references have not resigned and are currently at their desks working, The Daily Wire has learned. While they have “apparently told the press they intend to resign,” Dhillon said, “our office has not received notice of any resignations.”

https://redstate.com/terichristoph/2026/01/13/doj-lawyers-resign-after-harmeet-dhillon-declines-to-investigate-ice-officer-n2198072
1. Rage quit over disagreement.
2. Related to another case.
3. Retirements initiated weeks ago.
#1 did not sound likely on the face of it–the timeline was way too short.

#2 and #3 are not mutually exclusive.

We’ll see.

I’m hoping for prosecution for Spouse Ms. Cook.

I’m also hoping that President Trump lends his attorney’s to Officer Ross to sue the socks off every news outlet that characterized the justified shooting death of the domestic terrorist as murder.

2
drwilliams says:

14 January 2026 at 08:50

KBJ Comes Up With a New Word in SCOTUS Trans Athletes Case That Has Everyone in Stitches

For cisginger girls, they can play consistent with their gender. For transgender girls, they can’t,” Jackson declared.

https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2026/01/13/kbjs-incredible-new-word-in-trans-athletes-case-that-has-everyone-in-stitches-n2198097

Spice Girls Reboot.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is starting to look like one of the best conservative picks for SCOTUS ever.

1
Nick Flandrey says:

14 January 2026 at 09:12

“Debt fueled”

Department store Saks collapses as fears of store closures mount — and shoppers scramble for up to 85% off bargains

By MARTHA WILLIAMS, US REAL ESTATE & CONSUMER REPORTER

Published: 08:36 EST, 14 January 2026 | Updated: 09:02 EST, 14 January 2026

Luxury department store Saks Global group filed for bankruptcy late Tuesday, marking one of the largest retail failures since the pandemic.

The move comes just over a year after a high-profile deal brought Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, and Neiman Marcus together in a bid to build a luxury retail powerhouse.

‘The debt-fueled acquisition of Neiman Marcus always made bankruptcy a likely destination for Saks Global. The only real surprise has been the speed of the collapse, which has come barely a year after the deal closed,’ Neil Saunders, a retail expert at GlobalData, told the Daily Mail.

The filing raised questions about the future of the storied US fashion brands, although Saks said early Wednesday that its stores would remain open after securing $1.75 billion in financing and naming a new chief executive.

Saks said in November that it would shut nine of its roughly 100 Saks Off Fifth stores in January, but there are growing fears the final number of closures could be far higher.

Retailers often use Chapter 11 bankruptcy to exit expensive leases, and Saks is expected to close around half of its Off Fifth locations, along with several of its 41 main Saks stores and some of its 36 Neiman Marcus locations.

In a typical Chapter 11 process, store closures usually begin around 30 days after the filing.

– some things look obvious in hindsight. I bet you couldn’t convince a board or the ‘activist’ shareholders to not take the easy money though.

n

1
drwilliams says:

14 January 2026 at 09:22

best BB front page ever:

https://babylonbee.com/news/white-house-announces-over-1000000-new-jobs-were-created-in-december-but-they-were-all-filled-by-marco-rubio/?utm_source=nypost

1
drwilliams says:

14 January 2026 at 09:24

“Spouse Ms. Cook.”

Good.

Multitasking my errors this morning.

1
MrAtoz says:

14 January 2026 at 10:00

Lynn’s six star list in January 2026:

Time for me to get to work.
Greg Norton says:

14 January 2026 at 10:00

– some things look obvious in hindsight. I bet you couldn’t convince a board or the ‘activist’ shareholders to not take the easy money though.

Private equity, No one in the management is actually interested in doing actual retailing.
Nick Flandrey says:

14 January 2026 at 10:09

Yeah, it’s all financial shenanigans.

—————————

Lock them up.

Inside armed police raid of Timothy Busfield’s mountain hideout: Door rammed as he turns himself in on child sex abuse charges… and wife Melissa Gilbert’s angry reaction is revealed

Heavily armed US Marshals raided the upstate New York home of Timothy Busfield and his wife Melissa Gilbert less than an hour after the actor turned himself in to police 2,000 miles away.

——

n