JFC.

Can’t do anything in power. Can’t do anything out of power. Weirdly they’re the only party that never has any power or voice, regardless of the situation

Hegseth and Trump are both saying over and over again that the Western Hemisphere is "ours" and we're back to full sphere of influence imperialism. Pretty obvious Trump and Putin made an implicit or even explicit agreement about this.

Colonial war of choice

Sidenote: Helen DeWitt writing about the publication history of the new collaborative book is so funny because she thinks everyone is stupid and insufferable. helendewitt.substack.com/p/your-name-...

from the perspective of Venezuelans, I suppose last night's military operation doesn't really look very different from Grenada in 1983, Panama in 1989, or countless other US military actions what makes this feel different from vantage points outside of Latin America is that the US is no longer 1/

That’s fine, I guess.

I’m not naive about this, my formative political memories are (1) the Supreme Court handing its preferred presidential candidate an election and (2) that president doing illegal wars. But I find it pretty grim that the main lesson of American civics education is basically a joke.

I’ve been thinking lately about how all children learn how good and wise America’s constitutional structure is: three branches of government, checks and balances, etc. And then in the real world, they just roll over to whatever Trump does. The idea feels almost quaint at this point.

Like I said, the only opposition they will ever have is “we should have been told”

Dems don’t care what Trump or the Republicans do as long as they’re informed. The only thing they ever get “concerned” about is when it doesn’t follow proper protocol.

oh well as long as he told you it was legal and okay I guess it is

yall wanna still talk about how the dems would never support this?

He was killing innocent fishermen and there was nothing coming from the opposition and the media scrambled to justify the murders however they could. The most that they’ll say about a war at this point is that it didn’t follow protocol.

At least seven explosions and low-flying aircraft were heard around 2 a.m. local time Saturday in Venezuela's capital, Caracas.

BREAKING: Hearing reports of explosions in Caracas, Venezuela. Source with family on the ground says people advising each other to shelter in place.

“I have no real patience for art that doesn’t believe in itself.” Fantastic writing the whole way down.

I wrote about seeing Oedipus on Broadway and why the most monstrous thing that he does isn’t the killing his dad or marrying his mother thing but his demand to know the truth, regardless of the cost. open.substack.com/pub/somethin...

A few years ago, I was set up with this model and for our first date she asked to go to Chateau Marmont, and my friend who set it up was like, you know the life you chose, don’t pretend to be mad now.

No one seems to ever blink at the idea of an apartheid state that is also occupying another. That’s just accepted as fine. And the best that can be done is to plead with them to treat the people they’re oppressing with more charity. It’s a completely absurd situation.

What’s more absurd than Israel blocking aid organizations from Gaza is the fact that it’s accepted that Israel should have the power to decide how the people of Palestine live. Every story is framed as if it’s normal and natural for them to rule over another people like that.

We had finally solved this and made it easier to cancel subscriptions and then…

“About two-thirds of subway stations are inaccessible and the city’s Access-A-Ride service for disabled people is a disaster, making the city buses the default transportation choice for anyone with mobility issues.”

I believe her whole outfit was on loan, but it’s funny that they tried to make Melania Trump a fashion icon and now they have to pretend to be against the same things they praise in her. The coat that Melania wore was $4500.

Michigan supremacy

We need to bring back phones on the sidelines of football games. Quarterbacks should be able to call their moms after touchdowns.

I should be allowed to fight the referees from Ole Miss vs Georgia

Trinidad Chambliss is such an incredible name. Awesome player but somehow he also beats out Gunner Stockton on the best name competition.

Georgia were so comfortable in this game and then just decided to give it all away. Pretty impressive.

“To seize and capture a moment for waiting against the imperatives of efficiency and time-saving is to secure a space of psychic liberation in which the virtues of patience and loving attention can be cultivated.” open.substack.com/pub/theconvi...

Fernando Mendoza talks like ChatGPT

What if Alabama didn’t want to win the game? Maybe this performance is an art installation about how we overemphasis championships in sports and that what matters is really the time we spend together.

The best touchdown celebration is when the receiver jumps and the offensive lineman catches and lifts them up. Very romantic.

The best part about that Ty Simpson fumble is that the defender that forced it then just crawled over Simpson like he was a rug

Look at what watching Thomas Frank’s football has done to a man

Phil starting the year off with hard truths about faith and hope open.substack.com/pub/philipch...

I was just reading a foreword in a Danilo Kiš book that savages American writers for their inability to engage with politics and morality in their fiction but I think this is a general American society thing? The idea that someone’s politics and morals shouldn’t have any effect on how you see them.

I posted about it on Twitter but what I realized as an adult that I really didn’t grasp earlier is how central sex was to people’s conception of themselves and exists as the primary driver of their decisions and formation of self. Sex as the place of self discovery and as sex as the entire self.

The line in this courageous essay about her child not remembering her broke my heart. I hope she knows what an impact it had on so many people.

One of the best to ever do it

Why are they even allowing an AI film to be in contention? Do these competitions not have the most basic rules?

Except for the Patriots, God’s team

Reminder that years ago it was found out that the FBI straight up made up a whole bunch of fake forensic sciences, plural. People have gone to jail and been executed due to literally pseudoscience. Hair forensics, for instance, is totally nonsense. They admitted it. slate.com/news-and-pol...

Always love reading Bolaño essays on literature and other writers, because he can be so rude, but also his compliments are so particular that it feels like he’s being rude when he isn’t. Even the idea that Arlt’s writing is like a closet or a basement is meant as a compliment.

USPS quietly changed its postmark rules — mail is no longer dated when you drop it off. The “official” date is when it hits automated sorting — sometimes days later Which could have major implications for mail in voting — it’s a clever way to disenfranchise voters that’s going largely overlooked

If anyone needs a social scientist and UX researcher who specializes in AI, trust, and complex systems, I’m very available and ready to jump in. Currently looking for my next role. DM here or email drjuliecarpenter@gmail.

Got my dad a watch for his birthday/Christmas

LeMonde said, not on our watch