Trump as Hari Seldon, Trump as Paul Muad'dib. While we're on this idea of "low time preference" and speculative visions of the future, folks might want to read @jordanscarroll.bsky.social's SPECULATIVE WHITENESS:

Why the f*ck must everything I hold dear be subject to the whims of a demented shitposter with no emotional regulation? Why can I not book a holiday or make a financial decision, without first stopping to think about that guy? Why should I have to wake up every morning to find out what he’s done?

If nothing else, I've proved I have the world's worst knack for timing Now that the planet has survived "Power Plant Day" or whatever that was, take a moment to read my essay about Apollo 8, Artemis II, and the hope that springs from viewing the Earth without borders share.inquirer.com/3v1Yiv

I prefer the America where people care for one another.

Locus is of great benefit to both new and established writers. That’s as true now as it was prior to the Internet. It’s still a non-profit. Help it keep helping.

You should also read Article I, not just Article V, & remember again that everything Trump has done with 🇨🇦, 🇬🇱/🇩🇰, & now 🇮🇷 violates not only US law & the Constitution, but also the NATO Treaty & the UN Charter, & it all should have already ended his presidency.

Free newsletter: We need to talk about the inherent weirdness of the AI bubble, and how strange it is that an industry that loses billions of dollars to create few productivity benefits is described as a disruptive technology rather than an industry of WeWorks. www.wheresyoured.at/ai-is-really...

A commenter notes that "Trump managed to be both Hitler and Chamberlain in the same negotiation. An unprecedented feat." 😭

Just released the second edition of my ebook Take Control of iPhone Photography. Get outside, enjoy nature, learn to take pretty pictures of it. www.takecontrolbooks.com/iphone-photo...

Personally I think when a world leader announces “Tune in tonight at 8pm Eastern to watch the world end” like it’s the fucking season premiere of Roseanne we should have a different leader the next day.

The famous Andor line is that "tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle." Here is a perfect example of that through malicious compliance: Idaho forced the city of Boise to remove its Pride flags. So the city painted rainbows everywhere else.

Color me completely unimpressed until articles are rolled out and a conviction is made. Ive seen this show before. Ive heard this all before. Jan. 6 should have been the end of it. It wasnt.

American decline is due, in large part, to the persistent efforts by rich people to ensure that their own progeny retain wealth and power no matter how stupid and lazy they are.

Imagine you're slipping the surly bonds of Earth and touching the face of God but then you have to get on the phone to listen to a child molester ramble about how Bette Midler is nasty

This is awful. These projects are amazing sources of information about our environments. I got to spend time on one reporting on scientists studying how climate change and melting permafrost might end up over-fertilizing the Arctic. Incredible work. www.snexplores.org/article/here...

I've said it before and I'll say it again. This ends in arrests, prosecutions and lengthy prison sentences or it never, ever ends.

I will reiterate the Jay Willis Promise: If you’re cool and we have occasion to meet up IRL and you remind me before I pack, I will probably bring you a bobblehead of John Roberts in an umpire costume, crossing his fingers, stomping on the Voting Rights Act

I keep on pointing out that Congress really can’t take vacations anymore when the Executive Branch is on a destructive tear. It really pisses me off.

Or cancel the dinner and have the awarding of scholarships offsite.

👇🎯 There is no plan for how to fund public universities w/o foreign graduate students, just as there is no plan for how to fund them w/o the illegal federal cuts being restored. But the public doesn't know there has been no loud public collective action from our leaders. bsky.app/profile/mcop...

Anything you hear from any ICE mercenary, FBI agent, DHS agent, Department of Justice stooge, or representative of the federal government—it's a safe bet that it is a lie. That includes sworn statements delivered under oath. Remember that from here on. Whatever they say, it's probably a lie.

“[M]ilitary sources indicate that George and his ally, Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, disagreed with Hegseth’s decision to block promotions of four officers — two Black men and two women… George and Driscoll felt that Hegseth was using race and gender to single out these 4 officers…” 4/3/26 … 1/

In a very real way, the President of the United States should be held to the highest standard of conduct in the whole country. Somehow, he’s held to a lower (nonexistent) standard of conduct than literally everyone else. It’s unfathomable.

I no longer understand the GOP's lockstep subservience to Trump, an unhinged degenerate who is clearly going to drag their party down into the quicksand, if the nation and the world even survive his term of office.

I think the opposition party widely expected to make historic gains in the next election(s) has an obligation to explain how they'll stop this and prevent it from happening again or it's reasonable to conclude they don't plan on doing those things, which raises more uncomfortable questions

humiliating, evil, insane, and stupid. you can only pick four

Grateful to have had this conversation with the wonderful @ardenthistorian.bsky.social! Donald Trump isn't the only one who's allowed some light blasphemy this Easter Sunday, as a treat. Enjoy.

This is a must-read on multiple levels documenting the ongoing backlash against #metoo p.s. Michael Wolff (still getting paid, to this day, for his close association with Epstein) is quoted here asking Epstein in an email: 'Are women bad for journalism?' www.nytimes.com/2026/04/03/o...

If I were in Trump's Cabinet, I would spend Easter calling constitutional lawyers about the 25th Amendment. This is completely, utterly unhinged. He's already killed thousands. He's going to kill thousands more.

Remember all this nonsense about the supposed inferiority of “third world” immigration? They really believed that and applied their theory to international relations and it failed. Racism makes you stupid.

All of this is happening because Republicans in Congress, on the Supreme Court, and in the administration have enabled Trump through thousands of prior crimes including a coup, and because they continue to enable him now.

more than almost anyone in the admin susie wiles is clear-eyed about who and what she has spent her life enabling and that makes her one of the most evil people in a government entirely composed of sociopaths

I’m not wishing for a resurgence of American Protestant anti-Catholicism, but should such a resurgence happen it’ll put JD in a bit of a pickle and carve a huge rift in the MAGA coalition. bsky.app/profile/jben...

More context on this #Artemis II image: * This is the night side, lit by moonlight. You can see city lights in Spain & Portugal, & a sliver of day at lower right * The Sun is entirely behind Earth, which makes it a kind of solar eclipse, but w/ Earth doing the eclipsing instead of the Moon: ☀️🌍🚀🌕

This is Jolteon. He was born with an eye disorder that causes fluid buildup and impairs his vision. Without treatment, he's at risk of developing painful blisters and ulcers that may ultimately require the removal of both eyes. You can help him below ❤️‍🩹 1510.fan/jolteon-bsd

"Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives." Carl Sagan

The unfunny version of this was when L.A. was on fire and I was getting fed out of date information marked new and urgent. We had a public square / public alert system that worked and we broke it for shareholder value.

Last night I joked Polymarket should let me bet that Bryan Betancur, the DC Metro hair toucher, would show up at the Monitoring the Situation bar bc I was there. I was right! After he was removed from the bar, he waited outside for me to leave.

I tell my students that writing is an exercise in figuring out what you think; it's not a place to deposit what you've already worked out. If you step on a frictionless surface, momentum takes over and you just slide; there's nothing to interact with, which means there's nowhere to stand.

The US has been proudly acting like the asshole at the party all night, then wonders why nobody wants to drive us home.

like yes, obviously, this is always who they were, this is always where they wanted to end up but it’s pretty depressing how fast they were able to move to being completely open with it no fig leaves, no bullshit excuses, just “fire all the black people and the women”

someone please humble this puffed up chucklefucker

When you have senior white male military officers willing to end their career by raising concerns about the blocking of Black and female officers, it feels safe to say this isn't about ending DEI: the better historical parallel is Wilson's resegregation of the bureaucracy bsky.app/profile/nbcn...

You get assigned some stories. You pitch others. This one, I wholeheartedly chased. www.nationalgeographic.com/science/arti...

I mean, make any random asshole on the street the secretary of war and we’d all be in the same place.

The thing is there are plenty of dictatorships these guys can go live in

The US conservative movement has established an informal nationwide network whereby, if you do something horrible or crude or violent or racist,& face some accountability ... they will crowdfund for you & make you rich. Very explicitly encouraging & rewarding shitty anti-social behavior.