It is a true honor to have received the Composers Now Visionary Award! I want to take this moment to advocate for collaboration, and non-traditional composers like myself.

Over 700,000 hungry children kicked off of SNAP

really really important piece on police violence in Texas schools, written and reported by a few friends of mine. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

“Viewpoint diversity” is a trap For @table.media, I wrote about the Yale report on “Trust in Higher Education” – and why we will not be able to defend academic freedom by accepting the terms set by a rightwing campaign intended to impose reactionary rule. Some thoughts, since it is in German:

The Trump administration’s process for awarding border wall contracts has been shrouded in mystery after former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem waived dozens of laws regulating financial transparency and competitiveness in government contracting. With @texastribune.org & Big Bend Sentinel

Follow this: First, Trump quietly buys up to $5 million of Dell stock. Then, he urges his followers to “go out and buy a Dell.” Today, his Pentagon awards a $9.7 billion deal to Dell. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Easy dunk, but irresistible.

The level of corruption is eclipsed only by its brazeness. They simply don’t care what it looks like. Great reporting by @propublica.org. www.propublica.org/article/dona...

Donald Trump is sending the Justice Department after a woman he raped.

‼️‼️Delaware Superior Court upholds a municipal ordinance allowing individuals to cast votes on behalf of LLCs, trusts, and corporations in local elections against a challenge that the ordinance constitutes unlawful vote dilution for real persons under the state constitution. aboutblaw.com/blQg

I'd pay to see this episode of Hoarders

Just noticed an interview I did with Hannah Fry ages ago is now part of this BBC2/iPlayer show she’s just put out www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

Talarico: I’m an eighth-generation Texan. I’ve been eating barbecue since before Ken Paxton’s first indictment. And if all they have on me is lying about me being a vegan, I feel pretty good about our chances this November.

"No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another" U.S. Const. Art 1, s. 9, cl. 6

This is the one convincing answer. Everyone saying they're worried about losing money & sinecures is ignoring the incredible amount of money & sinecures awaiting them from every centrist/mainstream media, publishing, academic, & think tank outlet forever. bsky.app/profile/mcop...

www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/p... Don’t forget this abhorrent garbage. This should be front and center in attack ads every day until election day. Don’t let this crook get a moment’s respite from the negative press for this atrocity.

This is Ken Paxton's mugshot. He was indicted on 3 felony counts for investment fraud. He was reported to the FBI by his own staff for bribery. He was impeached by his own party for corruption. Now he’s the Republican nominee for US Senate in Texas. Together we will stop him.

‘You Are Nuts!’ RFK Jr. Repeatedly Bitten After Picking Up 2 Wild Snakes While Cheryl Hines Pleads With Him to Put Them Down #Mediaite

TV’s Mr. Wonderful accused two Utah women of being CCP agents. Their crime: opposing his super-sized data center.

50+ people are outside Delaney Hall in New Jersey right now ✊

This feels like it's about more than just the mass production of slop. It's an ideological project to delegitimize the independent creation of new knowledge

Taiwan's drone exports are taking off, fuelled by the war in Ukraine. Low-cost drones used for reconnaissance and strikes are in high demand as governments around the world boost defence spending in the face of intensifying conflicts u.afp.com/SDoZ

The mundane business of public administration still needs human beings to operate, and massive downsizing and pointless reorganization make it less likely that business gets done.

Pope Leo quoting Tolkien in his encyclical on AI seems like a pointed reference for the tech oligarchs who have appropriated LOTR for their own ends.

a disgrace not only to the office of the president but to military families who have lost loved ones

Another reminder: if there exists *any* class of people who don't have due process rights, then *nobody* actually has due process rights because the government can always just say you're in that class.

The DOJ dropped misdemeanor charges against anti-ICE protesters, admitting it used improper tactics to secure the indictment. Kat Abughazaleh, one protester and former Democratic congressional candidate, said the administration's attempts to silence them are "not going to work.”

Tom Massie says he will be naming lots of names connected to the Epstein class before he leaves... he then instantly proceeds to name check Melanija Knavs (Trump), saying she knows much more than she's told us so far. www.thedailybeast.com/rogue-republ...

A day after The Late Show ended, Colbert hosted an episode of public access program Only In Monroe, reviving his 11-year-old gag. How bad is CBS/Paramount taking it? They issued copyright complaints for a show they don't own. 🤣 CBS would hate it if you watch here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DlF...

The national debt is currently hovering around 39.07 trillion and we should be shouting this 24/7 the way they did when it was a tiny fraction of what it is now

From that piece above: "Deaths linked to gender or sexual identity more than doubled in 24/25, and trans young people are now estimated to be taking their own lives at 7 times the rate of their peers.” Cis folks, how are you not appalled by this?

Britain is witnessing a steep rise in anti-protest sentencing, with climate activists and Gaza solidarity protesters increasingly jailed across England and Wales. Researchers warn that peaceful civil disobedience, placards, and protest actions are now drawing unusually harsh punishment.

Texas shows that in the freest energy markets, solar beats fossil fuels: In 2026 the state will produce WAY more energy from solar than coal. Naturally, Texas is also the neck and neck with CA to be the battery storage capital of America. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Nothing at all fishy going on here over the weekend, I assume

The Arlington National Cemetery Memorial apparently has deleted references and information on everyone interred there who wasn’t a white straight man from their database - attempting to sweep their existence under the rug. My thoughts on this obscenity cannot legally be shared on this platform.

The entire episode underscores the utter fecklessness of the Rs in Congress, who don’t exercise their constitutional authority or conduct even minimal oversight. At best, we would be back to an agreement akin to the JCPOA but with a much emboldened, more dangerous, and well-funded Iranian regime.

I've said it a million times already, but I do not see how people like this sleep at night.

Never in my wildest imagination did I think I would be called into special session over Memorial Day weekend & have to argue that military members & their spouses deserve to have their votes counted after they already cast their ballots. But here we are. Join the fight by voting early on Tuesday.

Little by little, Trump is shrinking MAGA down to its molten core. *Alienating noncollege/rural whites *and* Latinos/young *Forcing disloyal Rs out of GOP *Demanding Rs fund ballroom *Insisting Rs defend 1/6 slush fund *Wrecking economy with tariffs and war From me: newrepublic.com/article/2108...

Some states are fighting prediction markets. The Trump admin is furious www.salon.com/2026/05/24/t...

NEW: A California DA was prosecuting Stanford students for felonies over pro-Palestine protests. Bolts reported back in February that he was fundraising off these cases. Learning this, defense attorneys dug more, & filed a motion to force Rosen off the case for bias. A judge just removed him:

What's going on with the Oath Keepers' and Proud Boys' seditious conspiracy charges? Let me see if I have this right. Back on April 14th, DOJ filed a motion to vacate the charges with the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeal was still active because Trump didn't pardon, he commuted. 1/

While we slept the DOJ deleted all press releases about charges against January 6 defendants: www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...

This would be a disaster. It also shows that trying to remain above the political fray, as NASEM leadership has mostly done, is generally not workable — in the end, they’ll come for you if they don’t like what you represent, and probably sooner than later

The Economist examines Graham Platner and finds most criticisms of him bogus. "Platner is a sure-footed, often fierce candidate with a potent account of America’s predicament. A veteran, his story of disillusionment with the wars of this century lends weight to his story of establishment betrayal"

“Accidentally”

NEW: The Colorado Democratic Party has formally condemned and censured Governor Jared Polis for granting clemency to Tina Peters. Polis is hereby banned from speaking or being honored at party events. 90% of CDP central committee members voted to reprimand Polis.