Besides The News

01/06/25

As news on weekends is prone to be by nature, a lot of things were circling about in the world to discuss. Jack and I bring you the best headlines to help you stay informed and aware of all the shifting landscapes that happen in American and European news.

Aaron’s Picks

The wonderful world of X continues to be a giant beta test for Elon Musk. His latest X Score phenomenon left many who talk about politics with a lot of frustration. A wave of people claimed that their test through Grok (X’s artificial intelligence engine) was no higher than 38 out of 100. This means that the algorithm is learning once again who to suppress and who to boost. No one is surprised to find out that it happens to be those who engage and interact with Mr. Musk and his thinking without confrontation. The predictable folks like Alex Jones came out to defend their election hero, but something is deeply troubling about the First Buddy’s push to make X the Everything app. Especially when it was revealed that there is something akin to a social credit score rolling around out there based on your favor with the platform.

Substack continues to be the best free speech platform, with the largest reach but upstarts like Pickax, are hoping to sweep into the space that X is creating with its top-down management style. One of the best articles about the changes that took place over the last few weeks came from

Michael Rectenwald

. It remains to be seen what will come of X’s changes, but something is happening that feels much more like the past than the one that Musk promised.