One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc

I review Furious Minds by @lkatfield.bsky.social , a book that puts recent history in a new light. www.splicetoday.com/politics-and...

I review Furious Minds by @lkatfield.bsky.social , a book that puts recent history in a new light. www.splicetoday.com/politics-and...

They have no f-ing idea how big and how complex Nigeria is. No f-ing idea what they’d be getting into.

NASA Administrator Nominee Would Shift Future of Space Exploration www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasa... "Privately, some former space agency officials say that Isaacman seems as good a pick for NASA as the Trump administration could deliver."

Yawning at the limited government folks warning that a democratic socialist mayor of New York is an existential threat, but who remain guardedly optimistic about an authoritarian president.

Such is a consequence, now breaking into public view, of a free-floating anti-intellectualism that has been building in right-wing circles, and which is reflected in the Trump administration’s emphasis on cutting science budgets and scientific advisory panels.

"We’re less than one-fifth of the way through Trump’s second term; things will get much worse. So it’s too early to know whether the damage that Trump and his MAGA movement are inflicting on the foundations of the United States is reversible..." www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

Scientists engaged in puzzling out black holes or elementary particles may be surprised to find themselves besieged by political hostility, but that’s what has happened.

I write about a family brush with history and politics. www.splicetoday.com/writing/gath...

The Trump administration’s reduction in funding for gravitational wave studies won’t save taxpayers much but it *will* jeopardize future scientific breakthroughs. @kensil.bsky.social

Commentary: Trump knows just how dangerous Obama is, writes Laura Washington. That’s why Trump has been attacking, demeaning and undermining Obama since he entered national politics.

NASA's Moon Race Looks like a Losing Bet Former NASA officials warn that the U.S. looks poised to lose its self-declared race to beat China to the moon www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasa...

Some thoughts after a visit to France. www.splicetoday.com/writing/retu...

Elon Musk Discovers What Hierarchy Actually Means Elon Musk is having a very bad week. The man who bought Twitter for $44 billion to secure unaccountable power over public discourse is discovering what unaccountable power actually looks like when wielded by someone who understands dominance better…

Graduate seminar did a deep dive on Thomas Paine’s Common Sense yesterday. At the line, “in America the law is king,” they (14 students from 6 countries) burst out laughing. I've been doing this for 35 years and this is the first time that was a laugh line.

"Wars on Science, Real and Otherwise." www.liberalcurrents.com/wars-on-scie...

"We will fight our fellow Americans, both on the suburban highways and right downtown." www.splicetoday.com/politics-and...

Scientists engaged in puzzling out black holes or elementary particles may be surprised to find themselves also besieged by political hostility, but that’s what has happened. www.theunpopulist.net/p/the-admini...

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv... Agree.

US ‘on a trajectory’ toward authoritarian rule, ex-officials warn www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Notes on the political climate for science. open.substack.com/pub/theunpop...

Something that I think people need to consider is that when Pinochet lost the 1990 referendum he refused to cede power and ordered his military to rally and oppress the people. Pinochet had full unilateral control of the military with no meaningful legal checks. He wrote their paychecks.

The Trump administration’s fiscal 2026 budget proposal for the National Science Foundation (NSF) slashed the science agency’s budget by 56% from $9 billion to $3.9 billion. @kensil.bsky.social

Notes on the political climate for science. open.substack.com/pub/theunpop...

"Our Constitution is not dying. It is waiting — waiting for us to claim it." A bracing essay. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/o...

I don't know how anyone could sit through these rancid lectures by Peter Thiel. I couldn't finish the article about them. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Nationalism's not what it used to be. time.com/7324968/qata...

Purporting to go after “domestic terrorism,” Trump is authorizing punishments for even tenuous connections to speech the administration doesn’t like. bit.ly/4330Su2

Nothing remotely resembling an insurrection is happening anywhere in the country. Any violence associated with protest has been isolated, mild, and, in nearly every case, instigated by federal law enforcement. If we let Trump get away with calling dissent an insurrection, our republic is over.

Following Frederick Douglass on free speech. www.splicetoday.com/politics-and...

The same forces breaking down democracy have succeeded in undermining key institutions: the judiciary, the integrity of religious institutions, and the guardrails of one of our two political parties. trib.al/zwHE2Jo If we want better outcomes, we must commit ourselves to restoring them.

This video of Chicagoans intervening to save a man from being abducted off the streets by ICE is making the rounds on Instagram. Community action works. Source: www.instagram.com/reel/DPZL2AL...

"Fuck ICE" is a patriotic sentiment. Perhaps the most patriotic in this moment.

Miller has Fascist Hissy #3 today after another court ruling. This one from a judge appointed by radical left marxist Donald J Trump.

"At some point in the not-to-distant future, I was told by a source close to Trump, there is a growing fear that someone in his own inner-circle may whisper the words '25th Amendment,' end the Trump presidency and usher in 'The Age of Ultron' — I mean Vance." www.salon.com/2025/10/03/i...

Make DC a state, feed ICE to the woodchipper, and razer Trump's ballroom. Among other good ideas here: open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...

Lindsey Halligan, the attorney selected by Donald Trump to bring criminal charges against James Comey, has never prosecuted a case. But, like Trump, she did get her start in reality TV — with a brief cameo on South Beach Tow. Here is Halligan’s newly resurfaced TV moment:

"No future state-on-state wars—literally, none of them—are going to be determined by male toxicity and upper-body strength. They are going to be fought and won by the force that is inventive and adaptive; that has nimble production capabilities." www.thebulwark.com/p/the-depart...

"Their loyalty is to the Constitution, not to President Donald Trump and Secretary of Whatever the Hell He Thinks He Is Pete Hegseth." substack.com/home/post/p-...

I look at some national and natural history, including a family connection. www.splicetoday.com/politics-and...

Today’s shameful shadow docket decision from the Supreme Court—allowing Trump to unilaterally cancel $4 billion in aid—is not behavior that any healthy democracy tolerates of its judiciary. It is a sign of constitutional rot that precedes the rule of law’s collapse. slate.com/news-and-pol...

Great review of my book by @kensil.bsky.social . www.splicetoday.com/politics-and...

My review of "Dictator from Day One" by @tracinski.bsky.social , a book focused laser-like on the key political issue of our time. www.splicetoday.com/politics-and...

My review of "Dictator from Day One" by @tracinski.bsky.social , a book focused laser-like on the key political issue of our time. www.splicetoday.com/politics-and...

Karl Rove in the WSJ: "‘They’ Didn’t Kill Charlie Kirk" www.wsj.com/opinion/they... JD Vance again today: "they" killed Kirk www.wsj.com/opinion/they...

Timely. Arrived earlier than expected, @tracinski.bsky.social a.co/d/6O3fjo9

A federal judge has thrown out President Trump's lawsuit against The New York Times. The suit, he says, "stands unmistakably and inexcusably athwart the requirements" of federal court rules. It is "decidedly improper and impermissible." storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

This is the playbook, folks. If you're not paying attention now and doing something about it, then you're going to have to sit down the rest of your life because democracy is being taken away. Do not be quiet in this moment.