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On the Search Engine podcast this week, tech journalist Casey Newton predicted that Twitter would declare bankruptcy within a year. The way things are going over there, that seems entirely possible. I don’t know Elon Musk’s limit for setting fire to his money for the sake of edgelording on Main (apologies to the not terminally online for making you read that phrase), but I do know that Twitter, my previously favored social media site, has been awful to be on since his takeover.

I think the good people of Oklahoma City are getting rogered but good. I think they are being led by the nosehairs into subsidizing their professional basketball franchise in a way that is out of step with what other NBA franchises are getting from the cities where they play. I think the citizenry should rise up as one and scream, “Hell no!” to the coterie of politicians who’ve crafted this sweetheart deal to finance a new NBA arena.

Welcome to the Tactical Notebook, where you will find more than five hundred tales of armies that are, armies that were, and armies that might have been. If you like what you see, please share, subscribe, and restack. If you find this article to be ill-founded, poorly-written, or just plain wrong, please send copies of it to your enemies. The following paragraphs come from the transcript of an interview conducted with Lieutenant General Hermann Balck in 1979.

Hetty Lui McKinnonA newsletter dedicated to vegetables, and how to cook them with care and creativity. Find my recipes on NYT Cooking. A former ‘salad lady’, I have written 5 vegetarian cookbooks including Community, To Asia, With Love & Tenderheart 💚 ncG1vNJzZmirpZfAta3CpGWcp51kjbW71Z6enqyRl7mmv9aiq6Gkn6uy

In 1975, the second of two pilot episodes for what would become The Muppet Show aired, with the subtitle “Sex and Violence.” It is, if nothing else, an attention-getting subtitle that’s going to make a few people sit up and take notice, especially since when you think of the Muppets, you probably think of them as being family-friendly entertainers. The Muppets extend from Sesame Street to Saturday Night Live, and are far more than just Kermit and Piggy and Fozzie.

Good morning, and thanks for spending part of your day with Extra Points. Today, we have another fun freelance submission from Matt Stahl, who just graduated from Western Kentucky and is looking for journalism work. Matt can be reached at @Mattstahl97 on Twitter, and at matthewstahl97@gmail.com. I’m able to pay for freelance submissions because of your paid subscriptions. The more subscriptions I get, the more freelance assignments I can take, and the better rates I can give.

Anyone else feel sorry for future AEW Dynasty events? The show is a B level event on the AEW calendar, but delivered as strong or stronger than the typical A level pillar shows throughout the year. Good luck Double or Nothing. The new AEW PPV event kicked off with a bang on Sunday night in St. Louis thanks to two major moments, matches, and stars. As usual, the show was bloated and longer than it needed to be, but never dragged like other marathon AEW events in the past.

The heart itself is but a small vessel, yet dragons are there, and there are also lions; there are poisonous beasts and all the treasures of evil. But there too is God, the angels, the life and the kingdom, the light and the apostles, the heavenly cities and the treasuries of grace—all things are there. —St. Macarius. There is the music of Heaven in all things. ― St. Hildegard of Bingen

Remember when I said Q would come back when the scripts had improved? Well apparently he couldn't wait that long. He pops up for some playful sparring with Picard and then whisks the bridge crew off to Sound Stage 16, leaving the captain behind. This week the classic Trek episode we will be rehashing is "Spectre of the Gun", but stripped of the more interesting aspects of the story. At least we get Q as compensation.