It’s true that those born before ~1975 aren’t living “in the U.S. they grew up in.” But that’s NOT because lots of immigrants have arrived here; it’s because capital holders have locked things down for themselves & it’s become a winner-take-all economy where ordinary people can barely make ends meet

"The trajectory of intelligent life on this planet can be described as an evolution of its verbs: to move, to reproduce, to hunt, to hide, to feel, to use, to make, to think." lareviewofbooks.org/article/what...

I'm so old that I interned for a Congressman who was born *before* WWI. Not a typo.

In other words, we have a social network (that the crook owns) starting a betting market using cryptocurrencies (including the one that the crook mostly owns) to makes predictions on elections (which the crook wants to own). And if something goes wrong, do you really think there won’t be a bailout?

Back c. 2017, after I heard @stewartbrand.bsky.social offer his standard line that “scenarios of the future to work need to be plausible in the present,” I observed to him that the problem right now is that the present isn’t plausible in the present. This announcement is a case in point.

Truth Social (which 😡 owns) is announcing that it plans to allow users to bet crypto (presumably 😡Coins) on prediction markets for elections (that 😡 himself aspires to control). The press release is 🤯 s3.amazonaws.com/b2icontent.i... the news story: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

People have forgotten all about the idea of “flattening the curve.” One pervasive public policy problem is that precautionary measures that successfully head off catastrophes by the very fact of their success make themselves seem like they were unnecessary: www.michiganmedicine.org/health-lab/f...

What I remember most – and I was lucky enough to not get really sick, or lose anyone close – was the months of uncertainty and fear, and all the things we didn't know. It's so unfair to judge these decisions in hindsight, and a fundamental misunderstanding of how science works.

If you liked the 2008 bank bailout, you're going to LOVE the 2026 AI (and crypto) bailout garymarcus.substack.com/p/if-you-tho...

One of the most vivid memories of my life was the evening of March 6, 2020. That night I walked down Divisadero Street in San Francisco, looking into all bustling the bars and restaurants, and I remember thinking to myself, "These people have No Fucking Idea what's about to hit them."

"Simulation only works when reality doesn’t contradict it too obviously. You can manufacture consensus that resistance is failing when resistance is invisible. You can create the appearance of overwhelming support when people can’t see evidence otherwise." www.notesfromthecircus.com/p/the-simula...

"Any discussion of Cheney's works must begin with the 2021 assessment of Brown University’s Costs of War Project that found, conservatively, that the War on Terror killed between 897,000 and 929,000 people across five of its battlefields." www.thenation.com/article/poli...

So the idea that SCOTUS would approve of Congress handing off its core function (namely, revenue raising & spending decisions) was always a stretch. As Stern says, “Perhaps we should’ve guessed that its extraordinary deference to this president could be outweighed only by its hatred of taxes.”

I happened to listen to the Supreme Court hearing yesterday on tariffs. It certainly seemed as if Trump is not going to win that case. As discussed here: slate.com/news-and-pol...

I don’t think most New Yorkers realize how totally unrepresentative of anything New York City is politically. What happens in New York never translates nationally; it doesn’t even translate within the state: it’s been a century and a half since the mayor of New York even became governor.

"In this new Cold War, the battle is not just over emissions, energy markets, trading systems, and technology. Nor is it just about sovereignty or identity. Rather, it is about the metabolic basis of modern civilization in a warming world." foreignpolicy.com/2025/09/01/e...

serious note: they're gonna try 5x harder to sabotage the midterms after tonight and we're gonna have to organize on a literally historic scale to stop them

The GOP is the party of Trump. Their fortunes are entirely hitched to his. When Trump dies, the struggle for power is going to be some real "Death of Stalin" level clown car dumpster fire stuff.

Each of these myths has been very politically useful: the first provided a basis for the postwar Franco-German condominium which developed into the European Union; the second, that the nation was unified and virtuous; the third, that France was a pragmatic country that knew how to restore itself.

“The AI industry’s most important product at this moment is not a chatbot or a video generator; it’s the story the AI industry is telling about itself.” www.theringer.com/2025/11/04/t...

Self-serving French WWII myths: 1. That von Choltitz defied an order from Hitler to destroy Paris because he could not bear to do it. 2. That everyone belonged to the French resistance, if only in their hearts. 3. That Vichy was a shield protecting France while de Gaulle rebuilt French power.

Today in #PlanetarySapience youtu.be/KNvgMFecJ2k

In which I chat with the most estimble Ken Liu for the @futurologypod.bsky.social podcast. The general theme was translation across linguistic registers: from human to machine, between human languages, and between fiction, legal & mathematical writing youtube.com/watch?v=q8ZR9-y4ik8&feature=youtu.be

I don’t usually subscribe to “shadowy cabal" narratives, but Rockbridge meets the definition: "With significant funding from tech leaders, Rockbridge aims to equip MAGA to outlive Trump. The group has no website or public-facing entity...." www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

“If America wants to lead the future of innovation, it doesn’t just need talent. It needs immigrant talent — people who expand what’s possible by thinking differently. Ohtani reminds us that the American advantage has never been its homogeneity, but its openness.” gautam.beehiiv.com/p/shohei-oht...

The political momentum behind the Nation-Firsters comes from having captured the political space of hope & progress, albeit in a zero-sum modality. So yes, win-win progress is dead, but what Nation-Firsters promise is wins (for some) by applying losses to various Others, both domestic & foreign.

“Loss has become a pervasive condition of life in Europe and America… The question is no longer whether loss can be avoided but whether societies whose imagination is bound to ‘better’ and ‘more’ can learn to endure ‘less’ and ‘worse.’” www.nytimes.com/2025/10/05/o...

No Dick Cheney, no Donald Trump.

I’ve always maintained that public nudity is the best crime — because it offends everyone but hurts no one.

I just overheard someone propose that, “Once democracy is restored, any state or locality that has a public facility named after Donald Trump should have all federal funding withdrawn.” maps.app.goo.gl/qJo58yAeRVTN...

“Truth is a rhizome – an underground plant stem with lateral shoots. You need to dig deep to reach it and, once unearthed, you have to treat it with respect.” - Elif Shafak

I saw the David Hockney iPad art show at the Louis Vuitton this summer, and I must say: it was stunning news.artnet.com/market/david...

Newsmax claims that Fuentes & Carlson's antisemitic "statements undercut the longstanding conservative consensus around Israel as a democratic ally & raise profound questions about what the 'America First' stands for." In fact those statements ANSWER those questions. www.newsmax.com/us/heritage-...

Behold the “negotiation” methods of the leader of the Axis of Petrostates

The GOP has not won an outright majority of the popular vote since the end of the Cold War

The Axis of Petrostates strikes back oilprice.com/Energy/Energ...

On the left, the refurbished Lincoln bathroom. On the right, picture I took in Saddam Hussein's palace in Basra in 2005.

Well, they gave it the old college try. They tried to place explicit Nazis inside the Overton Window. Alas the RINOs weren’t ready for it. But give em credit: they’re also not going to let cancel culture cancel those Nazis! “Next year, Jerusalem,” amirite?! www.nationalreview.com/2025/11/excl...

Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away - Philip K Dick

You can use memes and kayfabe to distract all of the people some of time; you can use them distract some of the people all of the time; but they won't work to distract all the people all the time from the fact that jobs are disappearing, prices keep rising, civil liberties are declining, etc.

"Postliberal critics of our current international order may share more with liberals seeking reforms than either camp would admit." www.compactmag.com/article/afte...

burning the commons for a tiny fraction of its value

Los Angeles right now

What’s sinister is how the AG speaks of antifa as if it’s a “organization” — which of course it isn’t: it’s an idea. Which means this statement is best understood as a declaration by the regime that it can give anyone it considers an enemy of the state an extrajudicial summary death sentence.

Why is it that conservative dipshits are all boobmen?

“Among intellectuals,” Hannah Arendt observed of the early days of Nazi rule, “Gleichschaltung was the rule” — in other words, the intellectual form of anticipatory compliance. 1/3

I had a great conversation with Josh Stark of the Ethereum Foundation. youtu.be/GUxwGds2uJU?...

Blood Meridian vibes

Sen. Slotkin says here that she expects the rules of engagement the USG is currently deploying against “drug boats” (e.g. extrajudicial killings) will be applied to domestic adversaries. Forget free & fair elections in 2026; this is a prediction that there will soon be death squads roaming the U.S.

My God, hasn’t Gaza suffered enough?! www.independent.co.uk/news/world/m...