Balloon Juice - Open Threads Archives

Open Thread: Who’d Have Ken Martin’s Job, Right Now?

by Anne Laurie| August 26, 202510:12 am| 134 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat

Just six months on the job as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Ken Martin is charged with leading his party’s formal resistance to President Donald Trump and fixing the Democratic brand.

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— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) August 25, 2025 at 11:02 AM

It is a fact universally acknowledged by Our Very Serious Media that whatever Dems are doing, they are doing it wrong. And yet, we persist!

Per the Associated Press, “‘No magic fixes’ for Democrats as party confronts internal and fundraising struggles”:

Ken Martin is in the fight of his life.

The low-profile political operative from Minnesota, just six months on the job as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, is charged with leading his party’s formal resistance to President Donald Trump and fixing the Democratic brand.

“I think the greatest divide right now in our party, frankly, is not ideological,” Martin told The Associated Press. “The greatest divide is those people who are standing up and fighting and those who are sitting on the sidelines.”

“We’re using every single lever of power we have to take the fight to Donald Trump,” he said of the DNC.

And yet, as hundreds of Democratic officials gather in Martin’s Minneapolis hometown on Monday for the first official DNC meeting since he became chair, there is evidence that Martin’s fight may extend well beyond the current occupant of the Oval Office…

“There are no magic fixes,” said Jeanna Repass, the chair of the Kansas Democratic Party, who praised Martin’s performance so far. “He is trying to lead at a time where everyone wants it to be fixed right now. And it’s just not going to happen.”

At this week’s three-day summer meeting, DNC officials hope to make real progress in reversing the sense of pessimism and frustration that has consumed Democrats since Republicans seized the White House and control of Congress last fall…

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At least a couple of DNC members privately considered bringing a vote of no confidence against Martin this week in part because of the committee’s underwhelming fundraising, according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation who was granted anonymity to share internal discussions. Ultimately, the no confidence vote will not move forward because Martin’s critics couldn’t get sufficient support from the party’s broader membership, which includes more than 400 elected officials from every state and several territories.

Still, the committee’s financial situation is weak compared with the opposition’s.

The most recent federal filings reveal that the DNC has $14 million in the bank at the end of July compared with the Republican National Committee’s $84 million. The Democrats’ figure represents its lowest level of cash on hand in at least the last five years.

Martin and his allies, including his predecessor Jaime Harrison, insist it’s not fair to compare the party’s current financial health with recent years, when Democratic President Joe Biden was in the White House.

Harrison pointed to 2017 as a more accurate comparison. That year, the committee struggled to raise money in the months after losing to Trump the first time. And in the 2018 midterm elections that followed, Harrison noted, Democrats overcame their fundraising problems and won the House majority and several Senate seats.

“These are just the normal pains of being a Democrat when we don’t have the White House,” Harrison said. “Ken is finding his footing.”

Martin acknowledged that big donors are burnt out after the last election, which has forced the committee to turn to smaller-dollar donors, who have responded well.

“Money will not be the ultimate determinant in this (midterm) election,” Martin said. “We’ve been making investments, record investments, in our state parties. … We have the money to operate. We’re not in a bad position.”…

The DNC is years away from deciding which states vote first on the 2028 presidential primary calendar, but that discussion will begin in earnest at the Minneapolis gathering, where at least three presidential prospects will be featured speakers: Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar.

Martin said the DNC is open to changes from the 2024 calendar, which kicked off in South Carolina, while pushing back traditional openers Iowa and New Hampshire. In recent days, Iowa Democrats have publicly threatened to go rogue and ignore the wishes of the DNC if they are skipped over again in 2028.

The DNC’s Rules and Bylaws committee this week is expected to outline what the next calendar selection process would look like, although the calendar itself likely won’t be completed until 2027.

“We’re going to make sure that the process is open, that any state that wants to make a bid to be in the early window can do so,” Martin said.

Newsweek, with another click-bait headline — “DNC Chair Ken Martin Reveals Why He’s ‘Sick’ of Democrats’ Tactics”:

Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Ken Martin revealed his frustrations with the party during its annual summer meeting in Minneapolis.

In a fiery address to his party on Monday, Martin told members he was “sick” of the Democrats “bringing a pencil to a knife fight.”

He urged fellow Democrats to “stand up and fight,” telling the meeting, “We cannot be the only party who plays by the rules.”

“Are you ready to take back our country from the wannabe-king in the White House?” he asked to loud cheers….

Martin, who was elected DNC chair in February, addressed over 400 elected party officials from all 50 states and several territories at Monday’s meeting, Fox News reported.

“We’re not going to have a hand tied behind our back anymore. Let’s grow a damn spine and get in this fight, Democrats,” Martin said.

He urged Democrats to “use your power.”

“Let’s fight. Let’s win. And let’s remake the world daily,” Martin said…

What People Are Saying

DNC Chair Ken Martin, at a meeting: “Americans are hungry for leaders. They’re hungry for candidates who are on the side of working people. They’re hungry for leaders who give a damn about their circumstances, and they’re hungry for a government that gives people freedom, not fascism.”

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, at the meeting: “The press finds the need to talk about, ‘Oh there’s a division in the Democratic party.’ There’s a division in my damn house, and we’re still married, and things are good. That’s life. That’s life. We are strong. We are strong because we challenge each other.”

Senator Amy Klobuchar, at the meeting: “We’re not joining that ‘we suck club.’ We’re not getting sucked into it when they try to divide us on every single issue online, because we have a more important job to do. Complaining about each other to each other – it’s not how we win again.”…

Open Thread: Who’d Have Ken Martin’s Job, Right Now?Post + Comments (134)

Looks Like I Picked a Bad Day To Sleep In Open Thread

by WaterGirl| August 26, 20259:45 am| 72 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Politics

After what I am calling “Governor’s Day”, I have to say that I slept better than I have in weeks.

I’ll add more content to the post in a few minutes, but in the meantime, open thread!

First up, The Downballot. It looks like we may get a sense of the Iowa electorate in their special election today. It would be a real shot in the arm if Dems can win today!

Iowa Republicans are at risk of losing their supermajority in the state Senate in a special election on Tuesday as both parties compete for a conservative—but politically volatile—seat in the western part of the state.

Democrats, as The Downballot reported when the special election for Iowa’s 1st District was first called almost two months ago, are fielding Catelin Drey, a progressive organizer who works at a marketing firm.

Next up, Krugman on Lisa Cook.

Yesterday Donald Trump said that he had fired Lisa Cook, a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. My wording is advisable: He “said” that he had fired her. I’m not a lawyer, but it seems clear that he does not have the right to summarily fire Fed officials, certainly on tissue-thin allegations of mortgage fraud before she even went to the Fed.

Cook has said that she will not resign. So at this point the immediate onus is on Jerome Powell, the Fed chairman. He has the right — I would say the obligation — to say, “Show me the legal basis for this action.” If Trump’s officials can’t provide that basis, he should declare that as far as he is concerned, Cook is still a Fed governor.

If Powell caves, or the Supreme Court acts supine again and validates Trump’s illegal declaration, the implications will be profound and disastrous. The United States will be well on its way to becoming Turkey, where an authoritarian ruler imposed his crackpot economics on the central bank, sending inflation soaring to 80 percent.

This from Dan Pfeiffer is interesting.

In my quarter-century in politics, I’m not sure the party has ever been more divided. And it’s not just the typical post-election battle between the left and the moderates over the soul of the party. Democrats are split over President Biden’s legacy, Kamala Harris’s future, why we lost the 2024 election, the New York City mayoral race, and U.S. policy toward the war in Gaza. Heck, the party is even divided over an Ezra Klein book.

Democratic voters are down on the party and disillusioned with its leadership.

These divisions — and the disconnect with the base — are preventing Democrats from mounting a full-throated response to Trump. All of these disputes are significant and will undoubtedly (and perhaps painfully) be litigated in the 2028 Democratic primary, which could include a record number of candidates.

However, there is one divide that will define the near future and shape both the 2026 midterms and the 2028 presidential race: the divide over the danger Trump poses, and how aggressive Democrats should be in responding to that danger.
Senator Elissa Slotkin has described it as the split between those who see Trump as an existential threat and those who think he is merely “bad, but survivable.”

Put another way: is ordinary politics the right response to Trump, or do Democrats need to do something different?
How various Democrats answer this central question helps explain their actions in the face of Trump’s daily assaults on American society.

An intriguing headline from The Bullwark, but of course I can’t read the article without signing up.

Dollar Crashes After Trump’s Fed Power Play

I just wonder if there’s anyone in the administration who can say “you know, maybe we shouldn’t do this after all”, to their boss.

Okay, that’s it for now.

Looks Like I Picked a Bad Day To Sleep In Open ThreadPost + Comments (72)

Late Monday Open Thread (but it feels like Tuesday!)

by WaterGirl| August 25, 202510:15 pm| 184 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

I know I posted this last week, but it’s really been a lifesaver for me.

I work at a doggy daycare, and we have a heated saltwater pool just for dogs. They get to swim twice a week, plus therapy sessions for older pups and those recovering from surgery… pic.twitter.com/1vz47xFrnU

— Puppies 🐶 (@PuppiesIover) August 20, 2025

Does anyone else have a favorite in this video? I’m pretty sure there’s a dog that jumps in with a ball in his mouth. I think he might just be my favorite.

Not sure you guys have ever seen this crazy photo of baby Henry, lying on his big brother Tucker. What a goofball.

It’s been a tough few days for me, and I finally feel like I can breathe again.

How’s everybody else doing?

Late Monday Open Thread (but it feels like Tuesday!)Post + Comments (184)

War for Ukraine Day 1,278: A Brief Monday Night Update

by Adam L Silverman| August 25, 20259:03 pm| 33 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Military, Open Threads, Russia, Silverman on Security, War, War in Ukraine

Just going to run through the basics tonight.

Ukraine has modified it’s Neptunes.

Ukraine has publicly showcased a long-range modification of the Neptune cruise missile for the first time 👀

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) August 25, 2025 at 5:57 AM

From The Kyiv Independent:

Ukraine has unveiled what appears to be a long-range modernized version of its Neptune cruise missile, capable of hitting targets up to 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) away, Defense Express reported on Aug. 25.

Originally, Neptune was Ukraine’s ground-launched, domestically produced anti-ship rocket with a maximum range of 300 kilometers which it famously used in April 2022 to sink Russia’s Black Sea flagship, the Moskva.

An image of the upgraded missile appeared in a video published on Aug. 24 by the state-run weapons portal Zbroya on Instagram.

According to Defense Express, the missile shown is likely a modernized version of the original anti-ship Neptune missile — informally dubbed as the “Long Neptune.” Its estimated length could exceed six meters, the outlet claims.

In March, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that the missile had successfully completed tests and been used in combat.

According to Fabian Hoffmann, a doctoral research fellow at the University of Oslo who specializes in missile technology, the main upgrade for the latest version is most likely its guidance system.

The original anti-ship version relies on radar guidance which is effective when “you have a big enemy ship that your seeker can home in on.”

“But that’s not very useful in a land-based environment, which is cluttered and where you don’t have these types of very easy to discriminate radar signatures,” he told the Kyiv Independent.

“You probably want to replace that with something like an imaging infrared seeker or an electro-optical seeker,” he added.

Ukrainska Pravda reported, citing undisclosed sources, that the Long Neptune missile was used to hit an oil refinery in Russia’s Krasnodar Oblast on March 14.

But another recent announcement may make the Long Neptune slightly redundant.

Ukraine is planning to begin mass production of its domestically developed long-range Flamingo cruise missile this winter, which has a reported range of 3,000 kilometers and carries a 1,150 kilogram warhead — far larger than Long Neptune’s 150 kilogram warhead.

“If the producer manages to put this missile out in significant numbers, and it’s not just the marketing gag.. then to be honest, a modernized Neptune cruise missile, in terms of its importance, decreases significantly,” Hoffman said.

Ukraine has continued to increase domestic weapons production. Zelensky said on April 16 that over 40%of the weapons used on the front line are now produced in Ukraine, including over 95% of drones used on the battlefield.

In June, Ukrainian media reported that the homegrown short-range Sapsan ballistic missile had successfully completed combat testing and is in the process of serial production.Zelensky also previously revealed that Ukraine had developed another domestic weapon, the hybrid Palianytsia missile-drone.

President Zelenskyy spoke at Ukraine’s National Prayer Breakfast today. Video below,

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President Zelenskyy also met with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gar Støre today. Here’s the video of their joint press conference:

Prime Minister Støre had a major announcement for the Ukrainians:

Norway intends to spend nearly $8,5 billion again to support Ukraine next year, Prime Minister Støre announced in Kyiv today.

— Olena Halushka (@halushka.bsky.social) August 25, 2025 at 6:19 AM

Norway will also facilitate the delivery of two Patriot systems, which it is co-financing.

By the way, the Prime Minister of Norway Jonas Gahr Støre came to Ukraine on his birthday – August 25. Congratulations, Friend! 🤝🎂🥰

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— ajit4g.bsky.social (@ajit4g.bsky.social) August 25, 2025 at 6:37 AM

The Germans also had a major announcement:

Wow, great news coming not only from Norway! Vice-Chancellor Klingbeil announced Germany’s commitment to support Ukraine with €9B annually “in the coming years.”

The best possible response to the “peace talks” is to secure more military assistance for Ukraine.

Be like Norway 🇳🇴 and Germany 🇩🇪!

— Olena Halushka (@halushka.bsky.social) August 25, 2025 at 10:14 AM

Georgia:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky greeted the Ukrainian song performed by Nino Katamadze and Nikoloz Rachveli with standing applause.

#UkraineIndependenceDay

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— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) August 25, 2025 at 3:09 AM

Georgia’s Russophile part of the clergy wants to declare Archimandrite Dorote Kurashvili a heretic, or at least to terminate his clerical rights – due to his open support for Georgian protesters, justice, and the country’s European path.

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— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) August 25, 2025 at 3:08 PM

Mamuka Mdinaradze will replace Anri Okhanashvili as Head of the State Security Service.

The announcement was made today, Saturday, August 23, by GD Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze.

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— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) August 25, 2025 at 4:43 AM

Russia portrayed Georgia as some dysfunctional wildlings who cannot survive as a society and state without the Russian army on the ground.

And then so many Georgian lefties will go ballistic against “American imperialism” yet drool all over Russian legacy in Georgia.

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— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) August 25, 2025 at 3:34 PM

Germany:

“Russia has the right to create a buffer zone in Ukraine for the sake of its security,” German politician Alice Weidel said in an interview with Die Welt.

In the next breath she spews another russian propaganda point:

“The Russians have always stated that their national security is at risk 👇

1/3

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) August 25, 2025 at 9:53 AM

if NATO continues to advance eastward.”
So Russia can advance westward by invading and annexing its neighbors, but NATO advancing eastward by countries voluntarily joining to avoid that fate is somehow unacceptable?

2/3

— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) August 25, 2025 at 9:53 AM

Both ideas coexist in Kremlin propaganda. Both are absurd.They contradict each other. Yet somehow, rarely challenged.

3/3

— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) August 25, 2025 at 9:53 AM

Poland:

Poland can no longer fund Starlink for Ukraine after President Nawrocki vetoed the aid law.

Minister of Digital Affairs Krzysztof Gawkowski called the move a “gift for Putinʼs forces,” warning that cutting Ukraine off from critical services serves the aggressor’s interests.

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— Kyiv Post (@kyivpost.com) August 25, 2025 at 8:47 AM

I expect one of the other EU or NATO member states will pick up the tab.

The US:

Trump: We don’t pay any money to Ukraine.

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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) August 25, 2025 at 12:10 PM

Everyone noticed!!

Reporter: How long are you going to tolerate this? Will there be consequences for Russia if they don’t meet?

Trump: Yes, there could be very serious consequences.

Yes, very serious two to three weeks.

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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) August 25, 2025 at 1:16 PM

There will NOT be any consequences at all.

Ex-Ukraine army chief and current ambassador to the UK Valerii Zaluzhny refused to hold talks with JD Vance, who was seeking an alternative to Zelensky after the White House dispute, The Guardian reports.

— Kyiv Post (@kyivpost.com) August 25, 2025 at 5:06 AM

That boy just ain’t right.

Back to Ukraine.

Democracies of the world wore blue and yellow for Ukraine’s Independence Day. Thank you for staying with us ❤️‍🩹

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) August 25, 2025 at 9:26 AM

Zelensky says Ukraine is carrying out deep strikes inside Russia with domestically produced weapons — and does NOT coordinate its targets with the US.

www.kyivpost.com/post/58877

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— Kyiv Post (@kyivpost.com) August 25, 2025 at 4:34 AM

From The Kyiv Post:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday that Ukraine is conducting long-range strikes against Russia using domestically produced weapons and does not coordinate its targets with the United States.

Zelensky made the remarks during a press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, broadcast by Suspilne.

The Wall Street Journal previously reported that the Pentagon had restricted Ukraine from using long-range missiles against Russia since late spring, aiming to pressure Moscow into peace talks.

According to the sources cited by WSJ, Ukraine had at least once attempted to use ATACMS missiles against a target inside Russia but was denied.

When asked about media reports suggesting the US had blocked Ukraine from using American missiles to strike Russian territory, Zelensky said such restrictions are not currently in place.

“At present, honestly, we are using our long-range weapons of domestic production. And lately, we have not been discussing such matters with the US,” he said.

US President Donald Trump had criticized the Biden administration for limiting Ukraine’s ability to strike Russian targets, saying such restrictions left Ukraine with “no chance of victory.”

The Biden administration had long imposed restrictions on the use of US weapons in strikes against Russia. Initially, they were completely prohibited.

After a Russian advance near the Kharkiv region in May 2024, the rules allowed US weapons to be used only in areas near Kharkiv. By November 2024, media reported that these restrictions were lifted, although the State Department said its policy on US long-range weapons in Ukraine had not changed.

Ukraine has recently unveiled its new Flamingo cruise missile, with a reported range of more than 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles).

Able to fly farther than most of Kyiv’s long-range drones, Flamingo could strike Russia’s Arctic bases near Murmansk and penetrate beyond the Ural Mountains into the Asian parts of Russia.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has boasted about Ukraine’s missile development for months, but has remained tight-lipped on details.

Though specifications remain undisclosed, photographer Efrem Lukatsky photographed the missile at arms maker Fire Point’s assembly line on Aug. 14, state-linked outlet United24 Media reported.

Lukatsky said the missile is designed with a range exceeding 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles), and the outlet said the missile has entered serial production.

Unprecendented. Unwarranted. Illegal. Unconstitutional. Un-American.

by WaterGirl| August 25, 20257:50 pm| 87 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

That’s my governor.

He speaks for roughly 12 minutes, and every word he uttered is worth listening to. There is static for perhaps a minute or less, but hang in there. We don’t know whether the static was intentional interference or not, as he began speaking truth to power, but if it was interference, do not let it keep you from listening to the rest.

Here’s the first minute or two on BlueSky, but I hope you’ll watch more than just these clips.

The simple act of Chicago telling Trump to fuck off is making me emotional

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— Laura Bassett (@lebassett.bsky.social) August 25, 2025 at 4:21 PM

Illinois Gov. Pritzker vows to pursue Trump officials who participate in an illegal National Guard deployment to Chicago:

“If you hurt my people, nothing will stop me – not time or political circumstance – from making sure that you face justice under our constitutional rule of law.”

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— Adam Schwarz (@adamjschwarz.bsky.social) August 25, 2025 at 3:36 PM

Gov. Pritzker doesn’t use the words “whiny little bitch”, but he didn’t need to, because he made his opinion of the guy in the White House very clear. And he spoke every single word that is in the title of this post.

I am so proud of our governors who are speaking out.

We are seeing leadership from Democrats all over the place this week.

The threat is not gone, but I am breathing a little easier.

Unprecendented. Unwarranted. Illegal. Unconstitutional. Un-American.Post + Comments (87)

Interesting Reads: What Does Palantir Actually Do?

by Anne Laurie| August 25, 20256:53 pm| 11 Comments

This post is in: Excellent Links, Grifters Gonna Grift, Science & Technology, Trump Crime Cartel

Palantir has been getting a huge number of deals like this, in what is extremely obviously self-dealing.

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— Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social) August 13, 2025 at 2:47 PM

===

I mean, when you wear the VP on your arm like the skin-puppet he is, why wouldn't you capitalize on that?

— David (@dkboyd.bsky.social) August 13, 2025 at 3:27 PM

I’ve been curious, and I thought y’all might be too. From Wired, “What Does Palantir Actually Do?”:

Palantir is arguably one of the most notorious corporations in contemporary America. Cofounded by libertarian tech billionaire Peter Thiel, the software firm’s work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the US Department of Defense, and the Israeli military has sparked numerous protests in multiple countries. Palantir has been so infamous for so long that, for some people, its name has become a cultural shorthand for dystopian surveillance.

But a number of former Palantir employees tell WIRED they believe the public still largely misunderstands what the company actually does and how its software works. Some people think it’s a data broker that buys information from private companies and resells it to the government. Others think it’s a data miner, constantly scanning the internet for unique insights it can collect and market to customers. Still others think it maintains a giant, centralized database of information collected from all of its clients. In reality, Palantir does none of these things, but the misconceptions continue to persist…

The problem, however, is that even ex-employees struggle to provide a clear description of the company. “It’s really hard to explain what Palantir works on or what it does,” says Linda Xia, who was an engineer at Palantir from 2022 to 2024. “Even as someone who worked there, it’s hard to figure out, how do you give a cohesive explanation?”

Xia was one of 13 former Palantir staffers who signed an open letter published in May arguing that the company risks being complicit in authoritarianism by continuing to cooperate with the Trump administration. She and other former Palantir staffers who spoke to WIRED for this story argue that, in order to grapple with Palantir and its role in the world, let alone hold the company accountable, you need to first understand what it really is…

Juan Sebastián Pinto, who worked as a content strategist at Palantir and also signed the open letter, says it sells software to other businesses, a category commonly referred to in Silicon Valley as B2B SaaS. Another former staffer says Palantir provides “really extravagant plumbing with data.”

Xia calls Foundry, one of Palantir’s flagship software platforms, “a collection of different applications” that customers use to “operationalize data.” A fourth ex-employee dubbed Foundry a “super-charged filing cabinet.” While all of these descriptions are technically accurate, they could also apply to products from hundreds of other tech companies. So what sets Palantir apart?

Part of the answer may lie in Palantir’s marketing strategy. Pinto says he believes that the company, which recently began using the tagline “software that dominates,” has cultivated its mysterious public image on purpose. Unlike consumer-facing startups that need to clearly explain their products to everyday users, Palantir’s main audience is sprawling government agencies and Fortune 500 companies.

What it’s ultimately selling them is not just software, but the idea of a seamless, almost magical solution to complex problems. To do that, Palantir often uses the language and aesthetics of warfare, painting itself as a powerful, quasi-military intelligence partner. “Palantir is here to disrupt and make the institutions we partner with the very best in the world,” Palantir CEO Alexander Karp says in a February 2025 earnings call, “And when it’s necessary, to scare enemies, and on occasion, kill them.”…

Underneath the jargon and marketing, Palantir sells tools that its customers—corporations, nonprofits, government agencies—use to sort through data. What makes Palantir different from other tech companies is the scale and scope of its products. Its pitch to potential customers is that they can buy one system and use it to replace perhaps a dozen other dashboards and programs, according to a 2022 analysis of Palantir’s offerings published by blogger and data engineer Ben Rogojan.

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Crucially, Palantir doesn’t reorganize a company’s bins and pipes, so to speak, meaning it doesn’t change how data is collected or how it moves through the guts of an organization. Instead, its software sits on top of a customer’s messy systems and allows them to integrate and analyze data without needing to fix the underlying architecture. In some ways, it’s a technical band-aid. In theory, this makes Palantir particularly well suited for government agencies that may use state-of-the-art software cobbled together with programming languages dating back to the 1960s.

Palantir began gaining steam in the 2010s, a decade when corporate business discourse was dominated by the rise of “Big Data.” Hundreds of tech startups popped up promising to disrupt the market by leveraging information that was now readily available thanks to smartphones and internet-connected sensors, including everything from global shipping patterns to the social media habits of college students. The hype around Big Data put pressure on companies, especially legacy brands without sophisticated technical know-how, to upgrade their software, or else risk looking like dinosaurs to their customers and investors…

Palantir’s software is designed with nontechnical users in mind. Rather than relying on specialized technical teams to parse and analyze data, Palantir allows people across an organization to get insights, sometimes without writing a single line of code. All they need to do is log into one of Palantir’s two primary platforms: Foundry, for commercial users, or Gotham, for law enforcement and government users.

Foundry focuses on helping businesses use data to do things like manage inventory, monitor factory lines, and track orders. Gotham, meanwhile, is an investigative tool specifically for police and government clients, designed to connect people, places, and events of interest to law enforcement. There’s also Apollo, which is like a control panel for shipping automatic software updates to Foundry or Gotham, and the Artificial Intelligence Platform, a suite of AI-powered tools that can be integrated into Gotham or Foundry.

Foundry and Gotham are similar: Both ingest data and give people a neat platform to work with it. The main difference between them is what data they’re ingesting. Gotham takes any data that government or law enforcement customers may have, including things like crime reports, booking logs, or information they collected by subpoenaing a social media company. Gotham then extracts every person, place, and detail that might be relevant. Customers need to already have the data they want to work with—Palantir itself does not provide any.

A former Palantir staffer who has used Gotham says that, in just minutes, a law enforcement official or government analyst can map out who may be in a person’s network and see documents that link them together. They can also centralize everything an agency knows about a person in one place, including their eye color from their driver’s license, or their license plate from a traffic ticket—making it easy to build a detailed intelligence report. They can also use Gotham to search for a person based on a characteristic, like their immigration status, what state they live in, or whether they have tattoos…

In some ways, Palantir can be seen as an amplifier of people’s intentions and biases. It helps them make evermore precise and intentional decisions, for better or for worse. But this may not always be obvious to Palantir’s users. They may only experience a sophisticated platform, sold to them using the vocabulary of warfare and hegemony. It may feel as if objective conclusions are flowing naturally from the data. When Gotham users connect disparate pieces of information about a person, it could seem like they are reading their whole life story, rather than just a slice of it.

“It’s a really powerful tool,” says one former Palantir employee. “And when it’s in the wrong hands, it can be really dangerous. And I think people should be really scared about it.”

******

I quite enjoyed the Economist's article on Palantir:
"Palantir might be the most overvalued firm of all time
What would make it worth buying?"
So sad to see the bubble bursting at bit. So very sad.
www.economist.com/finance-and-…

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— notsewmot.bsky.social (@notsewmot.bsky.social) August 20, 2025 at 6:34 PM

The Economist asks, “What Would Make It Worth Buying?”

… No one can accuse Palantir, a data-analysis outfit and the most searingly hot stock of 2025, of unspectacular growth. It reported revenue of $1bn for the second quarter of this year, 48% higher than for the second quarter of 2024 and quadruple the figure for the same period in 2020. Silicon Valley types seek out companies satisfying the “rule of 40”, meaning that the sum of their operating margin and year-on-year sales growth, both expressed in percentage points, is higher than 40. Palantir’s score on that measure is 94: higher than any other enterprise-software firm with equivalent or greater sales. Among the world’s 25 biggest companies by market value—of which Palantir is one—only Nvidia, with its near-monopoly on artificial-intelligence chips, scores higher.

Any investor would want a piece of that. The trouble is that Palantir’s market value has already soared to $430bn (see chart 1), more than 600 times its past year’s earnings and nearly triple the equivalent multiple for Cisco (or, indeed, Nvidia) at its peak. Software firms often prefer to express their valuation in terms of underlying sales, which puts Palantir’s multiple at around 120. For comparison, in 2005, the year before the Oxford English Dictionary added the verb “Google”, Google’s price-to-sales ratio peaked at 22.

You need not look far to explain why Adam Parker of Trivariate Research, an investment firm, has published a note entitled “Could Palantir be the best short idea?” Writing in late May, he examined the ratio of enterprise value (which adjusts market value to account for debt and cash on the balance-sheet) to forecast sales for the coming year. On this measure Palantir then scored 73 and now scores 104. Mr Parker looked for other listed companies that had hit a multiple of 70 since 2000. Excluding financial firms and those with annual revenue of less than $50m, he found 14, the largest of which has a market value around a quarter of Palantir’s. That was Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), a firm that sells some software but pitches itself to investors as a “bitcoin treasury company”, with a value derived from its cryptocurrency holdings rather than its sales…

What, then, would it take to make Palantir’s shares worth buying? The firm helps everyone from spooks to fast-food chains analyse their data better and thereby improve their operations. Its blistering recent growth comes, in large part, from enthusiasm over adopting AI for such purposes. Palantir’s competitive advantage derives not just from its software and clever engineers, but from a high-level security clearance allowing it to process classified information from America’s defence and intelligence agencies. This gives it a “moat” with which to fend off competitors…

Sustained revenue growth of that magnitude or more is possible, even at Palantir’s scale: Google (now called Alphabet), Meta and Nvidia have all managed it. Yet none was priced to do so in advance—and they are, after all, among the most successful firms in history. On a call with analysts and investors after announcing Palantir’s most recent results, Alex Karp, the chief executive (pictured), admitted that “this is a once in a generation, truly anomalous quarter.” The remarkable thing is that shareholders need the company’s revenue to continue to grow at a similar rate just to have a good chance of breaking even. There is no allowance for an upstart competitor, a scandal that makes clients wary or even a mere slowdown. If any of those strike, Cisco will need to make way for a new cautionary tale.

Once we turf out the current batch of malefactors, could an honest administration pull Palantir’s vaunted security clearance, possibly while Peter Thiel stands before a Truth & Reconciliation Commission?

******

Fairness requirement: Strenuous argument against Palantir’s whole existence:

Palantir: the world’s most evil company
open.substack.com/pub/politica…

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— Ck (@ck-100.bsky.social) August 13, 2025 at 6:40 PM

Interesting Reads: What Does Palantir Actually *Do*?Post + Comments (11)

DNC Summer Meeting: Gov. Tim Walz Fighting Mad

by TaMara| August 25, 20252:47 pm| 143 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

Crawling out of my self-imposed cave because, as always, Tim Walz tells it like it is, and I’m here for it.

Gov Walz had some things to say today (wish I could find a link to the entire speech):

Tim Walz: “I always get in trouble for it and I’ll continue to say it, I don’t think we do any favors when we don’t name it — these are fascist policies.”

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) August 25, 2025 at 10:34 AM

Tim Walz: “Think of how easy it would be to be a damn Republican. ‘Oh, what should I wear today? This stupid frickin’ red hat. What should I say today? I don’t know, just make sure it’s cruel. Who do we listen to? That guy — the felon in the White House.'”

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) August 25, 2025 at 10:30 AM

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DNC Summer Meeting: Gov. Tim Walz Fighting MadPost + Comments (143)

cain on Monday Afternoon Open Thread: (Putting Out) Little Fires Everywhere (Nov 10, 2025 @ 7:06pm)

dexwood on Utter distraction… (Nov 10, 2025 @ 7:01pm)

Feckless on Monday Morning Open Thread: Don’t Panic, Yet (Nov 10, 2025 @ 6:59pm)

Rokka on Utter distraction… (Nov 10, 2025 @ 6:59pm)

debit on Utter distraction… (Nov 10, 2025 @ 6:58pm)

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

The willow is too close to the house.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

One way or another, he’s a liar.

Fight them, without becoming them!

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

Reality always gets a vote in the end.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

When I was faster i was always behind.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

Democracy is not a spectator sport.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

Open Thread: Who’d Have Ken Martin’s Job, Right Now?

Looks Like I Picked a Bad Day To Sleep In Open Thread

Late Monday Open Thread (but it feels like Tuesday!)

War for Ukraine Day 1,278: A Brief Monday Night Update

Unprecendented. Unwarranted. Illegal. Unconstitutional. Un-American.

Interesting Reads: What Does Palantir Actually Do?

DNC Summer Meeting: Gov. Tim Walz Fighting Mad