What a night for authoritarianism in the USA

The Purcell principle now officially just means “Republicans win.” For the reasons Sotomayor lays out here, SCOTUS’s eleventh hour intervention for Alabama Republicans is indefensible. It’s going to unleash massive chaos on the ground for both voters and election administrators. What a disaster.

This is incredibly bad for many reasons. The obvious: targeting scientists using approved and legitimate methods to move samples (deactivated is a really important word in this doc). The less obvious: high similarity to a number of existing conspiracy narratives targeting public health work.

I've got too many other things going on to follow legislation changes recently, but... Three new co-sponsors of A4523 to bring camera enforcement to DSNY streets sweepers. 🧹 Robert Carroll 🧹 Andrew Hevesi 🧹 Keith Powers legislation.support/jehiah-nyc/c...

What's crazy is that microphone is the size of a pineapple

Three-Body Problem also suffers from the minor problem that it is about game theory, by a person who has not read any game theory

New research examines Waymo's California robotaxi trips btw Aug 2023 and Dec 2025. Conclusion: 46% of miles driven involved no one inside the car. That's 40 million miles of deadheading, with Waymo vehicles using road space w/o transporting a human. doi.org/10.32866/001...

When the Trump administration chooses to dismantle the system to monitor ocean currents, part of an ongoing attack on science and knowledge more generally by the federal government, I sure wish experts would not say this reflects a lack of understanding. It’s informed bad intent, not ignorance.

Oh s*t they are rewriting 2 CFR 200?

When the air becomes uranious, we will all go simultaneous

Leland Lehrman, a longtime promoter of antisemitic conspiracies, traveled to Germany to visit imprisoned COVID denier Reiner Fuellmich in prison. During the visit, Lehrman was billed as a "close associate of @SecKennedy," "consultant for #MAHA" and "the American Emissary."

Just say "far-right ideologues took power and enacted their radical agenda", this is taking forever

Really worthwhile piece www.foreignaffairs.com/ukraine/ukra...

What I don't see how this set of policies can address is 1) The pull factor of European labor shortages and comparatively high wages; 2) the push factor of labor surpluses and low wages in sending countries

Sellner is the person so far on the right that AfD members were sanctioned for meeting with him.

As in other cases where Moscow has done this, I'm not sure it works in the favor of their preferred candidates

Russia is extending its food embargo on Armenia ahead of elections there, adding summer fruits to a list of banned imports. Putin has warned Russia will "wind down" all economic integration if Armenia joins the EU. meduza.io/en/news/2026...

Since this ran last week, 3 more IDF soldiers have been killed by Hezbollah FPV drones, including two in two separate strikes today. The IDF lost 14 KIA to missiles, IEDs, and gunfire in Lebanon in March-April before the drone strikes kicked in. Since April 26, 11 out of 13 KIA have been to drones.

This is shaping up to be an important test case of what level of obeisance is necessary to be a higher ed leader in a place like Florida now chronicle.com/article/vying-for-the-u-of-florida-presidency-stuart-bell-compares-colleges-diversity-efforts-to-segregation?sra=true

Good news! You live in a movie. Bad news: CHILDREN OF MEN

January 8, 2025. I would simply die of shame if I ever wrote something as wrong as this

Important to read this and understand what's being done

The UN could run out of cash by mid-August. Secretary-General Guterres warns of "financial collapse" as the U.S. sits $4 billion in arrears and China — which injected $850 million this week — still owes $455 million. Together the two countries fund 42% of the organization's basic budget.

truly impossible to overstate how bad things are if a self-described conservative republican at scalia law is even considering not working for a republican federal government

If these guys are doubting it on the record, the crack-up of the right is going to be incredible

DOJ Launches Criminal Investigation Into All Women

I think the answer here is that while all of these can be considered right-wing in different senses, they were all deeply engaged with the world. Whereas the current movement on the far right is grounded in vulgarity and baseness--a performance for an online audience

No exaggeration they are against the things that made America great

The foundations of our leadership are a skilled workforce and enormous intellectual wherewithal, alongside an openness to ideas and immigration and stable institutions What if we dynamited those

The best part is the pedals don't do anything

When doing a stupid Dante tweet, you gotta get the quote right

I Profile Celebrities for a Living. Midway on My Life's Journey, I Found Myself in a Dark Wood, the Right Road Lost.

We set immigration policy trying to reflect the views of people who understand the least about what's actually going on www.economist.com/britain/2026... It's the opposite of leadership! And not what representative democracy should be about

Wemby flipped the whole “EU-US competitiveness gap” debate on its head. Draghi should just admit that he thought Europe is in decline because he has watched too much Simone Fontecchio

This is also an Islamic sartorial choice

And they say we can't make great things anymore

The nation yearns for a strong silent type

tl,dr; Scientists no longer allowed to use federal funding to publish, attend meetings, or talk to the public. They cannot collaborate internationally. Grants can be cancelled for any reason, at any time, political appointees have a final say over what gets funded, and who gets funded.

You should submit a public comment about the proposal to end American science. But after, adopt a policy of tripling. People can fight over the details. We need to have a scale for the challenges we face. Bad actors want folks exhausted about the details. Those are important, but: Triple U.S. R&D.

Greg Bovino will speak at a white nationalist conference in Portugal tomorrow. He will share the stage with no fewer than five people who idolize Hitler, including one who joined a group created by two Nazi SS members. Another guy is a self-described racist who refers to women as "cockroaches."🧵

In his Armenian rants Putin declares EU membership a red line. So much for NATO or the idea that they will 'compromise' with 'permitting' UA to enter the EU

Vladimir Putin’s fresh warning to Armenia over its EU ambitions is extraordinary: parallels to the Ukraine war, threats of economic isolation and... concern about the long-term effects of European GMOs. Just over a week before the Armenian elections: en.zona.media/article/2026...

German Christian Democracy was supposed to be the corrective to the last time conservatives decided “we are so sick of having to deal with Social Democrats that we are planning to work with the far right to get exactly what we want and there will be no negative consequences”

Important missing part of the fable is before crossing, when people tell the frog the scorpion will kill all of us, and the frog screams at them and tries to ruin their lives

Does anyone believe in “the unitary executive theory” or do they just believe “Republican presidents get to do what they want”

Wow, disembodied scrutiny is so powerful and active, I had no idea

MARK YOU CALENDAR for our EMERGENCY SCIENCE MEETING June 2nd at 4pm et. We will be giving an overview of the rule and assigning EVERY SCIENTIST IN AMERICA their marching orders. Register here: events.standupforscience.net/stand-up-for...