Intro
Welcome to the Newsletter. Each week, Cameron Lee Cowan wraps up the headlines with commentary that will make you sound smart to your friends and family.
The World is Hard, This is Not
Each week I send out the latest headlines, the latest videos from The Cameron Journal and commentary about the week’s events. If you’re new here, my name is Cameron Lee Cowan M.A. MFA, and I’m the Creative Director here at The Cameron Journal. You can learn more about me on the about page. I do research and commentary on politics, culture, and the world around us.
Remember, The World is Hard, This is Not.
Updates
Welcome to August everyone! The heat finally broke this week and yesterday it was downright chilly here in New England. The rain last night was a welcome relief from the days of hot and dry. It has been a long week and I’m crashing into Friday a bit this week. I had client work, plus the show, and many other tasks going that made for quite a week of activity.
Although, it was not as fun as the beach last week, I definitely needed the time to catch up on several tasks around the office and I am proud to say that I managed it. I do hope you’ve been enjoying my current series on Millennials ahead of my next book! I know it is a lot of emails but please bear with me. I only send out the most important stuff.
I’m going to keep this short because we have so much news to cover but don’t forget to pre-order America’s Lost Generation. I have some new videos and other stuff coming out very soon!
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America’s Lost Generation
My next book will be out soon, and I’m taking new pre-orders now. America’s Lost Generation catalogs the story of Millennials and what went wrong for America’s largest and most educated generation. They did everything right, and they have been net losers in today’s America. So what happened? I discuss that and more in my new book.
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Your Internet ID: The Newsletter
The Headlines
Don’t forget to join me on Monday for The Cameron Journal Newshour to catch on everything happening in the world!
More Details About Russiagate 2.0
We have some fresh new releases from DNI Tulsi Gabbard on the intelligence gathering by the Obama administration in their last days in power in 2016 and 2017, including a new memo that seems to show that the Clinton campaign and Hillary Clinton specifically were aware of the efforts during the summer of 2016 to tie the Trump campaign to activities that Russia was doing to change the outcome of the election. We have this release from the files in the Durham Report.There is also a whistleblower who apparently was trying to push against the narrative being created and there are emails about this in the latest document drop from Gabbard on X. We also have some other information from the Durham Report about issues with the intelligence about what Russia was or was not up to in the 2016 election. Matt Taibbi describes them as “damning for the FBI, CIA, and Hillary Clinton.” They seem to draw a connection between the Clinton campaign and the narrative with a memo remarking on express approval from Mrs. Clinton herself. And that doesn’t get into the fact that she was on heavy psychiatric medication during the campaign and had a “thirst for power” despite health concerns.
So, what does all this mean? I will admit that on the face of things, none of this looks good. There’s even a George Soros connection. And that’s the funny part about all of this. It is a right-wing dream. It’s perfect, almost too perfect. The story goes that the missing Durham files were found in burn bags at the FBI that Kash Patel happened to discover and save. So far, I’m reserving judgment. If this is all true, then it is quite damning. However, it is important to note that much of these documents are based on early signs and the full knowledge of the connections between Russia, Cambridge Analytica, and Meta were not yet known. It is also interesting that none of this came out in the first Trump term when it would have been the most useful.
However, as a distraction from the Epstein files, it has been most effective. Although people are still talking about the missing Epstein files, the story is gaining traction. Taibbi remarked that the mainstream media won’t touch it and it will be up to independent media to report on this. I will continue reading and keep you updated.
Millennials and Tech Layoffs
As you may know, the end of cheap money has really hit the Tech industry hard. Microsoft recently let 9,000 people go and other companies have followed suit. However, Millennials still can’t shake the bad job advice despite being well into our 30s and 40s. The old canard of, “you should go into the trades” is back in full force. No mention of the fact that people made the “smart move” by going into tech and now are in the middle of their careers (with aging joints) and are expected to turn back around and start over at a low wage in manual labor. There’s nothing wrong with the trades or manual labor but anyone who does that work will tell that it is a young man’s game (to start with anyway).
As you know, my new book, America’s Lost Generation is coming out in September (firm date coming soon!) and it is frustrating to watch the same old narrative be repeated over and over again. Instead of really thinking about our public policies and how we structure our economy and society people are roasted online for daring to complain about any aspect of life. I’ve often wondered why this is and I think the answer, although it is uncomfortable, has become quite clear to me in recent years: the system works for too many people.
The thing about a collapsing society is that the system will work for some until it breathes its last. At the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, there were commissars and party members who were living great lives right until the dissolution and thought of the system as a good thing that worked. We are facing the same problem now. For many the rising cost of living isn’t a big problem. A job layoff is only a problem for those getting laid off. But it is a small number. New Gen Z graduates not getting any jobs and having unemployment is only a problem for new Gen Z graduates. No one is thinking about the bigger picture. As someone quipped on Twitter, “No one is trying to solve the problem, they just want to make enough money for it not to affect them.”
I think that summarizes the current mood very well.
The New Internet ID Laws
This story has been covered more extensively on The Living Joke podcast because it affects the gaming industry and AI creations but you might have heard about a group of new laws being proposed in the US, UK and Australia requiring websites who present 18+ content to age verify its users. In the US, there are first amendment issues around this but, of course, there are no such hang-ups in the UK and Australia. Despite the odd factor of all these countries passing these laws at the same time, there is the simple idea of why people should have to present ID for content on the internet and what that does for privacy and freedom of speech. On The Living Joke we’ve talked about this in relation to adult content websites and now in the context of AI and different AI creation services restricting their content in advance. What’s coming is biometric IDs and, in some cases, having to upload a valid ID to access certain content and it is about to be encoded in law. Some services like Discord and YouTube are already rolling this out.
Personally, I think parents should take more responsibility for what their kids see online and actively teach their children how to navigate online spaces. In Australia there are looking to ban YouTube for anyone under 16. I know how hard it can be manage kids and online spaces. It is no easy thing. I had a cousin we could not keep off social media before she was 13 (her older sisters were not helpful either!) My parents did a pretty good job but I managed to see what I wanted to anyway (despite all that Church). Parents are overwhelmed and I get their concerns, however, I have really have two issues.
One concern is a free speech concern and the other is a data concern. Not only are platforms going to restrict content so they don’t have to comply with ID laws (many platforms are exempted!) but it is going to be increasingly difficult to host adult content anywhere online outside of specific sites for the purpose. The content restrictions won’t just be for sexual content, it will be for a variety of other content as well. My other concern is about the data. If I upload my ID to these platforms, I have now have yet another important piece of information floating around in a cloud server somewhere. What happens when that (inevitably) gets hacked and stolen? Who will pay for the damages?
I will also say that with each site having its own ID system, that could soon turn into a logistical nightmare for users as well. I am already betting that they all start using one major company and that returns us to the security concerns.
All in all, I think this will severely kill off whole parts of the digital lives we have created and many people simply won’t comply and will look elsewhere for the content they are looking to consume to avoid these new ID requirements. The UK has already passed theirs and VPN usage has skyrocketed.
Interesting Video of the Week
You know we know Japan hates fat people? They make them fight in their underwear! That is a bad joke but in this week’s video we see exactly how Sumo wrestlers (who are wonderful athletes) eat and train with a buy who spent a month in a Sumo house where these men live together, train, and practice the Japanese art. Have you ever wanted to eat 10,000 calories in a day? Well in a Sumo house that is normal! You’re burning off tons of calories and still need to be nice and fat to get ahead. Imagine the food bills!
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