Stories that don’t much interest me
One of the main tasks of a blogger is deciding what topics to cover. It’s not as simple as it may seem.
Sometimes there are stories so huge they cry out for coverage, even if everyone else is writing about the same thing. Sometimes there’s just a quirky idiosyncratic topic that strikes my fancy. Sometimes I choose a story to which I think I can bring an unusual angle. Certain themes keep attracting me, although they aren’t current, such as ballet.
I’m only one person here, so I can’t do what Instapundit or RedState or other group blogs do, which is to cover all the stories or most of them, and keep churning out many posts each day. What I usually end up doing is writing about what most interests me, and what I think might interest my readers. Sometimes I guess right and sometimes I guess wrong.
So, although the following are big (or fairly big) stories around the blogosphere and social media, I’m giving them short shrift:
Your mileage may differ, especially if you’re a male.
(2) “I’m an AG!!!” Entitled Democrat behaving badly – what else is new?
(3) The expensive bag the woman who accompanied the woman in #2 was carrying.
(4) Ghislaine Maxwell’s testimony. Much of it may indeed be true; in fact, all of it may be true. Problem is, she can’t be trusted, so I don’t see that her statements are worth much of anything.
(5) The Cracker Barrel rebrand and stock loss. I confess I’ve never been to a Cracker Barrel. I was surprised to learn just now that they even exist in New England.
(6) Obama’s hypocrisy. We certainly don’t need more proof, but we have it.
Are we sure she wasn’t saying “I’m a nag”?
I confess I rather like Ms Sweeney’s body. But then, I am a guy.
Instapundit started out as just Glen. He has said that his super power is multitasking. And no doubt it was easier when the site was more an aggregation of links with short commentary. That said, Glen has a genius for saying much in few words.
As for Sweeney, a picture is worth a thousand words 🙂
I must have seen Cracker Barrels, but I’ve never been in one.
she a cute girl, who seems to trigger the right people, why cracker barrel, would break something that doesn’t need fixing, well there is a reason for it, tn the structure of corporate America, the only thing about miss assistant ag, is that may not be a disqualifier, see sheldon whitehouse,
I was a bit stumped by the Sweeney thing until I consulted AI:
Sydney Sweeney faced accusations of fascism due to a controversial advertisement for American Eagle, where the tagline “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans” was interpreted by some as promoting eugenic and white supremacist ideals. Critics argued that the ad’s messaging, combined with Sweeney’s appearance as a blonde, blue-eyed woman, echoed problematic historical connotations associated with the phrase “great genes.”
In other words, another episode of woke racism wherein the woke obsession with race causes them to exhibit the most hardcore racist traits in human history. What makes them worse than old timey racists is readily available knowledge that race does not biologically exist, something old time banjo-plucking racists were blissfully unaware of.
Neo commenting about what doesn’t interest her is more interesting than most blogs commenting about anything.
@Jim Melcher
Hear, hear!
We really like Cracker Barrel, but maybe not anymore. The CEO wants it to be less white, yet the one we frequent is usually at least 30% black customers. All races like a good, huge calorie, southern style meal. Another case of a white, liberal woman ruining a good brand….their Bud light moment. Various reports of a loss of over $200 million since Thursday. Besides the logo change, the redesign of the interior now makes CB indistinguishable from an Applebee’s, Chili’s, etc.
Sorry Neo, had to comment even though you have no interest.
Personally, I don’t think Sydney Sweeney is very pretty, but she has a great figure. Cracker Barrel will be the next Bud Light/Target.
I’ve eaten in Cracker Barrel restaurants many times, though not recently. I was always a little icked out by the overly-cluttered decor, sitting there wondering who did their dusting and when they did it. I haven’t been back since the lockdowns. ETA I live where their type of food is people’s normal dinner, so I just learned to make it myself.
Yie-Hsin Hung is the President and Chief Executive Officer of State Street Global Advisors, the investment management arm of State Street Corporation, one of the world’s largest asset managers. She is also a member of State Street’s Executive Committee and serves as Co-Head of Strategy Oversight for the company.
This might have something to do with management decisions
Prior to joining State Street, Hung was the CEO of New York Life Investment Management, where she led the company through a period of significant growth, nearly quadrupling assets under management. She has also held senior leadership roles at Bridgewater Associates and Morgan
Not knowing what your goals are for publishing this blog I would just suggest that you continue doing what you seem to have been doing, namely posting commentary on issues and topics that interest you. If you build it they will come.
Kind of agree with Alan, at first. Though Sydney was nice looking but seen pictures so changed my view and she is very pretty.
Haven’t been to Cracker Barrel in a very long time but won’t be going anytime soon for sure. I have a few boycotts going for companies who don’t want my money.
Sydney is pretty. With a body to boot! And she can be bring home the oil and change it in the pan. Vroom!
I too, wondered who did the Cracker Barrel’s dusting. When I asked a waitperson (who used to wear aprons with stars on them to supposedly reflect customer satisfaction with their service?) I was told there was a dedicated cleaning crew hired by corporate that would make the rounds visiting CB’s on a rotating basis for the sole purpose of dusting all the hanging implements and pictures on the wall. True or not, I experienced their bathrooms as clean, their food as good, their atmosphere as welcoming, their parking lots as safe and well lit, and their locations easy to find off an interchange. When I’d stop at one for dinner while traveling alone on the road, I’d appreciate their reliability and warmth, along with their selection of books on tape/cd that could be rented and returned at another location, before Audible became available.
I haven’t been to one in over 8 years, and understand that their food and service has been declining. However, other than a chance encounter with a slightly sticky wooden table that needed a rewipe I have only good memories of my experiences there, and can still recall the comforting scent of wood smoke in the air (from the live fire in their huge fireplace inside) in their parking areas, and whoosh of Poupourii, candy and food scents that would hit me (along with ALL the visual clutter!) when I’d walk in door. It was definitely an experience.
1 thru 4 and 6, I’m with you. Only mildly interested.
5) Cracker Barrel is a part of Americana. Most people who have traveled the interstates have probably seen one or eaten at one. Who doesn’t like a meal of chicken and dumplings? Yes, it’s not for the swells. It’s a working-class type of place. Too bad the CEO didn’t understand that. Amazing how wrong-headed decisions can sink a company with lightspeed in these days of mass communications.
Please keep up your GREAT work, Neo.
What’s great about your site, so often, is your own honesty and the care you put into getting your posts to be accurate. Going on 20 years of reading you, and still finding you the most truth telling blogger.
OTOH, I’m more Econ & ai & speculation interested than before, so here commenting less than before. Plus grandkids & my karaoke habit.
I’m also likely more interested in Maxwell’s testimony & Obama hypocrisy, but will be waiting for it in my X feed, or instapundit. Unlikely to see it in my other substack (almost-) daily reads.
Democrats won’t change their minds until Reps make fun of them more effectively, plus accurately describe what the Dems do.
Their Democrat Demonization Strategy, telling lies about Republicans & having MSM spread & repeat the lies.
Internationally, it’s the Leftist Demonization Strategy, against Bibi, and nationalism.
Correction on the Uniform Stars worn by the Waitstaff at Cracker Barrel: They’re more involved than I first understood, representing a heirarchy of Personal Achievement Responsiblities “critical to an employee’s development and understanding of the Cracker Barrel culture. In addition to introducing skill sets necessary for a particular position, PAR training focuses on teamwork, relationship building and partnership”,(from info posted 8 years ago).
Which means the whole set-up and brand management back then was a lot more controlled and organized than the clutter and easy going set up might indicate, and that was before the recent rebranding took place.
Well, to tell you truth, I’d be much more interested in whether or not the AG is sleeping with the AAG which is why he’s having problems finding some one more competent to replace her than something about red boots or ballet in general, but hey…
I suppose it’s by now redundant to note the issue about Sweeney is the response by the left. Hoo boy did they fall for that one.
Cracker Barrel had an atmosphere promoted by its logo and its decor. There was nothing wrong with either in a moral or practical sense. I liked the decor, being as old as I am, because some of the items would ring a bell. And “country” is better than “Urban” for an atmosphere.
One time, there was a family at a nearby table with a special needs adolescent. Every minute or so, he would emit a high keening sound dropping in pitch to end with a sob. What guts it took for that family to go out to eat. None of the customers at neighboring tables stared, remarked, asked to be moved. Class act. And the wait staff was particularly gracious.
Last time I was at a CB, it was on I44 near Ft, Leonard Wood. (Fort Lost in The Woods Misery) There were a couple of young soldiers at a table across the room. You can tell. I put a few bucks on their bill and the waitress knew how to do it, it happening frequently. And keep it anonymous, too. Which, considering the highly technical payment methods, is difficult.
But what good is an MBA if the first thing you do when taking over is continue what’s been working really well? Anybody can do that.
My kids used to refer to Bill Knapps as the “fossil fort”, without much exaggeration. But when the new regime took over and ran off their prime market, nobody showed up to replace them. Not sure what business school said about that possibility.
I’m interested in the CBRL story because…I like their food…I’m interested in marketing and its pathologies…and I’m a CBRL shareholder, having bought some a while back on valuation
I’m afraid the CEO doesn’t much like either the company’s product or its customers. Somewhat like Obama and Americans.
Some general…can’t remember who…said ‘You can’t be a good officer if you don’t like soldiers, And the soldiers can tell.’
Applies in business, too.
I enjoy your long articles as well as the short recaps of what’s happening with links. And the dance, art and history videos are fascinating, though I find myself looking at a few extra ones that pop up.
And, the open threads are also interesting because we see what other people are interested in. I would like to see you schedule a Sunday open thread so we could talk among ourselves. On Instapundit, the OT seem to be private conversations with a lot of inside jokes. It gets old and I don’t check it as much.
Has your traffic increased in the last week since you took the pinned post down?
@ Neo > “What I usually end up doing is writing about what most interests me, and what I think might interest my readers. Sometimes I guess right and sometimes I guess wrong.”
Well, as to guessing what would interest your readers, I agree with this comment on the Bolton thread today:
Sennacherib on August 23, 2025 at 4:59 pm said:
As far as Neo’s quality of writing, we’re here aren’t we.
@ Liz > ” I would like to see you schedule a Sunday open thread so we could talk among ourselves.”
Not picking a fight with an excellent commenter, but I like not having anything new to read on Sunday; it’s when I catch up with the posts and comments I missed during the week.
Anybody can do that.
I’ve seen several restaurants fail when new owners took over and changed things. The biggest mistake is when they shut down to redo the decor, the customers never come back.
Anything about Obama bores me to tears.
I still remember a woman that I sometimes chatted with on part of my daily commute. She seemed intelligent, for one thing because she asked me some non-asinine questions about astronomy, when she saw me reading Sky & Telescope magazine.
But the day after Obama was elected, I heard her gush to another lady: “Oh, don’t you feel safer already!”
As they say, Jesus wept.
The Cracker Barrel thing is not very interesting in itself, but it’s very relevant as a diagnostic of the overall situation. As others have noted, they’re doing exactly the same thing Bud Light did, only arguably worse.
— David Foster
Unfortunately, this is almost certainly the truth.
One reason companies like Budweiser sleepwalked into their disaster was that this was the time of pre-Musk Twitter. How does that matter?
As Megan McArdle pointed out, at that time many newspeople and upper-class types used Twitter as a proxy for public opinion. Unfortunately, Twitter was blocking out right-wing, traditionalist, and other dissenting voices, leaving the illusion of widespread popular support for Lefty causes, esp. the social ones, and that only a small declining fringe opposed any of it.
That almost surely contributed to the perception that it was safe to use Mulvaney as a PR face. Of course, the resulting explosion was a brand catastrophe. One retired PR man from Budweiser said afterward that it had taken him and his fellows 20 years to build Bud Light to #1, and it took the current crop a week to destroy that.
However, while the belief that it was safe to do it probably owed much to censored social media, the desire to do on the part of the Budweiser ad team was pre-existent. They looked down upon and were embarrassed by their customers.
Likewise with Cracker Barrel, I strongly suspect. Their whole PR schtick is the ‘old general store’ meme. It harks back to a mythic time when old men sat around the barrel or the stove at the general store, talking and socializing, the meme of families gathering at the table to eat home-style food by a fire in winter.
(By the by, I can remember as a boy when old men did gather at the general store in my tiny rural home town to chat and shoot the breeze, I can remember them sitting on the benches in front of the store in summer and gathered around an old wood stove inside in winter, doing just what the Cracker Barrel signage implied. Some myths contain much reality.)
America (and the West in general) is split between Left and Right, yes. But it’s also split laterally between a highly educated ruling class and a general public that increasingly despise each other. I suspect that the new CEO of CB thought its PR schtick was cringy and embarrassing (and also probably bought into the ‘shrinking minority’ idea, don’t underestimate the bubble effect, esp. among the highly educated) and decided they needed to get a new customer base.
“Highly educated”, in many cases, means in practice only “Highly credentialed”
HC68.
Correct as to CB’s decor. But, in addition, you can’t do that without a hint of patriotism.. Shudder. The occasional flag. Picture of, maybe, a guy in Civil War uniform. Old muzzle-loaders. Or maybe I was just mentally adding them due to the rest of the vibe. Just as bad.
Used to be that tinny credentials didn’t mean you knew anything new because of them. Today, it appears that your credentials mean you now are full of that which is incorrect and counterproductive when applied off campus.
The Bill Knapps thing was, as far as I can recall, simply a massive misjudgment in the face of overwhelming evidence not to do it.
Bud Light and CB seem to have added a substantial degree of implicit, at best, gross disapproval of the current market base. Is it possible that, in both cases, the perps actually thought the despising wouldn’t be obvious?
Those no longer drinking Bud Light have not gone dry since, and any disaffected CB customers will not be missing their calories and no doubt will still be hoping they don’t meet their cardiologist.
The biggest losers are the staff who are now surplus to requirements.
Cracker Barrel is tough on low carb eatin’.
BTW, the CEO of Jaguar stepped down a few weeks ago. It seems last year’s big nonbinary rebrand campaign didn’t work out as expected.
–“Trump rips Jaguar ad after CEO’s resignation. Why the ad stirred discourse”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2025/08/04/trump-rips-jaguar-ad-after-ceos-resignation/85513352007/
I loved their new motto “Copy Nothing” which was an obvious copy of Steve Jobs’ “Think Different.” The whole ad campaign was a cartoonish rip-off of Apple’s famous SuperBowl ad launching the Macintosh in 1984.
“I would like to see you schedule a Sunday open thread so we could talk among ourselves.”
We can still talk among ourselves using Saturday’s Open Thread (or any other thread). Neo deserves her day of rest.
Cracker Barrel and Buc-ee’s are both the type of Americana that appeal to the “masses.” Any road trip I do wouldn’t be a road trip without stopping at one or both.
And, when you get a CEO (or other higher up) who just doesn’t get it, or they look down upon the type of customers who make up their base, they will ruin the brand.
As for yourself, Neo, you do choose stories that appeal to you; but, also many of your readers. And I know I speak for many here – we love you for it! Thank you for posting what you do and for doing all the research/work in each story.
Going to miss Cracker Barrel. I used to eat there quite frequently when I lived back in North Carolina.
At least Bob Evans seems to be holding the line. Hopefully they’ll step up to fill the breach.
I live in CA and have never been to a Cracker Barrel. I’m a bit surprised that out of all the subjects this seems to have generated the most interest (outside of neo lol). My one observation is, how clueless do you have to be to have a brand called “Cracker Barrel” and then decide to go full woke/gay pride/LGBT?? More idiotic than even the Bud Light fiasco.
@ North – I had not encountered Bob Evans’ restaurants until this summer during a vacation trip to Rio Grande, Ohio (our Welsh Heritage convention location this year). We were domiciled at the University of RG, which is literally across the road from the Original Restaurant, and much of the campus is located on part of the Evans farm, including one building named the Bob Evans Farms Hall.
The food is very much Cracker Barrel in nature, but it lacked the gift shop simulation of an old country store.
Buc-ee’s is an old favorite though, as our home in south Texas was in a subdivision just up the road a piece from one, which was our neighborhood gas & grocery.
@ charles > “And, when you get a CEO (or other higher up) who just doesn’t get it, or they look down upon the type of customers who make up their base, they will ruin the brand.”
I always wonder what in the world possesses the Boards of those companies to hire a person who hates their cash cow.
Are they really that clueless, or themselves just as contemptuous of their clientele, or are the strings being pulled elsewhere?
As I recall, Bud Light used Mulvaney as a limited kind of joke. When asked about it, the marketing VP expressed what looked like disdain for the current customer base. From what I could glean, it was the latter which annoyed the “base”.
It’s one thing not to do something you should do. Lazy, no initiative, don’t want to spend the money or time. But to go out of your way to do something obviously stupid is another kettle. You have to want to do it and you would be working with a prediction as to the result. So either the prediction was….no change in customer attitudes, attitudes get better, attitudes get worse. Like to know what they really thought.
You have to really dislike something to spend that amount of resources against it. And that’s presuming there’s no downside.
But I recall a couple of years ago in a church discussion group mentioning (with malice aforethought because I’d read the room) that we had stopped at Cracker Barrel. “You eat at Cracker Barrel!?” exclaimed one AWFL. Predictably. So perhaps the downside was worth it.
And, going on past performance, the worst that can happen is that the perps get a severance package the size of which none of us could aspire to having in the bank at retirement.
When I was young and the family traveled by auto we used to look for Howard Johnsons off the freeways. Fried Tender Sweet Clams fed the whole family from Michigan to California and back. I miss the HoJos.
Waidmann
waldman
I was told, many years ago, that HoJo was a popular stop for travelers because you could trust the food. That was seventy-plus years ago and apparently local health departments weren’t as thorough as presently. But HoJo had their standards which was one of their unstated selling points.
I’ve never been close enough to a Cracker Barrel to see its parking lot, but I think this is an important story. Everyone is talking about how “stupid” the CEO is for making the changes she did, but I think she is just following the instructions of her big investors. Yes, they want to make money, but not at the expense of owning an “embarrassing” property like CB. It’s clear that they hatched a plan to destroy the company, but at the same time planned to get rich doing so (shorting stocks, etc). They knew exactly how the rubes who are their customers would react to their antics (from the Bud Light fiasco), made plans to get rich through the inevitable bankruptcy, and with the icing on top of taking away something they believe Trump supporters really loved. It’s no coincidence that this plan was hatched and the CEO went on TV so shortly after the botoxed podcaster demanded that the “fat, pink armed” Trump supporters stay out of Mexican restaurants and stick to their Cracker Barrel. Now they don’t even have that refuge thanks to the left’s scheming.
When cars, tackle football, and meat are outlawed within 30 years, their soul-crushing victory will be complete
High on their own supply.
Democrats have been riding a progressive wave for a century, if not more, They’ve won most of the culture wars.
They thought they would keep winning.
Hubris.
When I was a child our family would go to HoJo for the Fried Tender Sweet Clams after church. I was attracted to the fancy candy bars under the cash register, but my thrifty father wasn’t going for that.
Here’s a topic: the games local Los Angeles officials are playing with regard to the cause(s) of the January wildfires. We still don’t know what caused them.
The NTSB has been incredibly successful at making flying safer. a National Disaster Review Board, modeled after the NTSB, would do the same with natural disasters.
More here:
https://www.mikesmithenterprisesblog.com/2025/08/if-us-only-had-national-disaster-review.html
The Cracker Barrel saga continues, and it isn’t good, as people who are apparently pissed, have dug even deeper–
A man who has a channel normally devoted to talking about chainsaws, but who worked at Cracker Barrel for several years–working his way up from washing dishes to management–has detailed the changes (verified, he says, by a 15 year Cracker Barrel employee friend of his who still works there) which have taken place over the last several years, as Cracker Barrel has apparently deviated ever further from the philosophy/ideals and preparation practices of it’s original founders.*
And, contrary to Cracker Barrel’s PR damage control message to it’s customers, out today,** according to the linked Youtube video, not a lot of their food is actually “scratch cooked food,” and is prepared fresh, instead, it’s mostly prepared ahead of time, apparently off site, frozen, then thawed and reheated at the time of service.
Even their iconic, supposedly fresh baked biscuits are—according to the information from the linked Youtube video, thawed from frozen for Monday to Friday customers, and only made fresh on Saturday and Sunday.*
The chainsaw guy also predicts that the woke CEO won’t be fired, because many of the members of the Board of Directors think like she does.
* See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HigYQIkHRLY
** https://www.facebook.com/crackerbarrel/posts/1217523207071785?ref=embed_post
P.S. I think that the reason that the Cracker Barrel rebrand/remodel has sparked such an apparently widespread and violent counter reaction is because it comes at the end of a number of other attempts to stamp the “woke” brand/mindset on Target, Budweiser, and more recently on Jaguar, and that most average people have just had a belly full of these leftist woke culture war maneuvers.
P.S.S. Chainsaw guy also pointed out that few of the members of the Board of Directors come from the food service industry, instead, they mostly bring other types of corporate experience and attitudes to running Cracker Barrel.
Given their actions, my guess is that most of these corporate types (and the new CEO) actually view Cracker Barrel’s customer base (the great unwashed?) with contempt.
“The contempt of your customer base”
– Reminds me sadly of what’s happening in the UK & Europe with immigration.
Those in power are replacing the native population in a most awful, idiotic, cruel manner.
Biden & team nearly got away with doing that here.
We absolutely need to keep the WH & Congress for a few decades, as the leftist American haters still intend to replace us if they get the chance.