Tuesday: Three Morning Takes
it’s the housing, stupid / the (great, deadly) american snowday / bad bunny, worse owl
PW Daily
Jan 27, 2026
It’s the housing, stupid
In what comes as a massive shock to absolutely nobody, Americans of every political orientation feel a “middle-class lifestyle” is basically out of reach. According to a new NYT/Sienna poll, voters across every geographic, gender, and racial line, as well as every age — other than Boomers, lmao — cited housing in particular as unaffordable. And they’re right. We know it’s too expensive, and we know that this single issue is the root of almost every social ill from our endemically idiotic culture war to the kind of billionaire scapegoating that leads to suicidal economic policy as we’re watching now unfold in California. So fix it. Because nothing else matters. Gut the anti-housing regulations in every metro in the country, ban investors and foreigners from trading single-family homes like Bitcoin, and take a look at the unions artificially inflating the cost of labor. Greenland will be lovely (thank you, Mr. President), but the average American actually needs a home.
The (great, deadly) American snowday
Over the weekend, a massive storm dumped snow and ice across a huge swath of the US. Flights are canceled, more than 700,000 people are without power, and 20+ people have died. But um. It was also great. Millions of people around the country, emboldened by the government literally telling them not to do anything, took the opportunity to… putz around. They putzed around the house, the kitchen, the block. Some putzed toward Central Park only to find — wow! — Shaun White, the three-time Olympic gold medalist snowboarder, performing 180-degree jumps over Shane Gillis, while Shane nursed a Bud Light (yes this actually happened). Because, contrary to BIG GOVERNMENT MAMDANI MAKING THE KIDS LOG ON YESTERDAY FOR REMOTE LEARNING, that’s what snow days are for. The stuff Americans aren’t really so good at, under normal conditions. Tomfoolery, jiggery-pokery, maybe running some supplies to your local warming shelter, and, critically: putzing.
Bad Bunny, Worse Owl
In preparation for this year’s Super Bowl halftime show from Latin music star Bad Bunny, Duolingo is offering its services for non-Spanish speakers. In a new ad for the language-learning app, Duo the Owl dons a Bad Bunny-inspired Puerto Rican outfit while translating commonly used Spanish words in Señor Bunny’s songs (“perreo” means twerk, for those wondering). This comes as Trump has announced he’ll be skipping the Super Bowl this year over the NFL’s controversial halftime pick, with the performance almost certain to include some anti-ICE signaling, given Señor Bunny’s prior criticism of the president. But regardless of whether the reggaeton star comes out twerking — er, perreo-ing — in full Antifa garb… is it too much to ask that Americans enjoy the Super Bowl without needing translation assistance from a Latino owl? Can’t wait for Super Bowl XCV’s halftime show: Jacob Frey singing alongside the Royal Somalian Choir as the league desperately attempts to boost viewership in Africa/Minnesota.
