We've needed this for much of this century. Apart from the horror of the Supreme Court, there are too many court cases where trials are deferred until harm is done to one or more of the parties involved.

The lack of intellectual curiosity and surplus of arrogance amongst this group is incredibly dangerous.

Monday mornings hit differently when you aren't expected to arrive at your workplace at a specific time. It's doubly challenging when your age has something to do with it. #ageism

Once upon a time we funded peer reviewed research and development and didn't depend on speculative investment funded by early adoption.

More than a decade ago, a group of young, internet-connected Belarusian dissidents launched a series of increasingly high-stakes, increasingly surreal confrontations with the corrupt, authoritarian government of Alexander Lukashenka, a man who is often called "the last Soviet dictator." 1/

In no particular order, because my brain and body are recovering from a bourbon and peach-fueled evening of cooking and drinking, three evolving thoughts: 1. “From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs” in 2026 seems not like some utopian ideal but more

In a full suit, Mayor Zohran Mamdani jumped into one of the city’s public pools on opening day. Our City Hall reporter, Katie Honan, asked the mayor in April whether he would commit to the dip — a tradition that former Mayors Bill de Blasio and Eric Adams skipped.

@docgaby.bsky.social more examples of bad faith and willful ignorance helping to destroy the world. Also: the framing by an elected official that does not include the environmental benefits of renewable energy is an example of how much work the US has to do to catch up with the rest of the world.

This. @anildash.com grounds his argument here in the political and social realities of the United States, and his long experience in the technology space. PS: this has applicability beyond containing AI. This approach can apply to many of the issues we're currently facing.

Tell me you want to intimidate any center- or center-left freedom of speech and association by illegitimately using terrorism as a threat ....

@joshtpm.bsky.social has written a cogent piece about a difficult subject in US politics and in leadership in general: good or bad character is not a determinant of future success or failure. talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/purit...

Peer review and data governance are the mechanisms by which modern, data and fact driven science and policy work, are replicable, and verifiable.

FWIW, I didn't see as many uniformed officers in my travels in China (1992) or in any African country (1985 - 1994) as we now have in Washington DC. All of the countries would have been considered authoritarian regimes. Which makes us ....

Explains the prevalence of submissive bottoms and the market for sadistic dominatrices and masters.

Marcy Wheeler: "Trump is using the presidency not so much to govern, but to attempt to erase the contributions of Black Americans, all in an attempt to feed his narcissistic pathologies." emptywheel.net/2026/06/21/t...

As an expatriate Oregonian, I'm proud of the state's modern history of reasonably good governance and government. What's problematic is that there are radicals in the state, mostly on the right, who want to destroy that. Having the cloak of party respectability doesn't make them legitimate.

Scha-den-freude.

“A very judgmental garden gnome named Clive”

Dave gets this right, but (I think) makes a category error: technologies don't drive change, they enable change. The culture of "disruption" that we're living in assumes that new and different is inherently better. When we stopped measuring the ability to improve a problem, we lost track our goals.

Start planning the de-MAGA-ification and removal of all things Trump from civic life now. Plan to salt the earth these toxic weeds grew from, and the long work of restoring a truly civic political culture in the United States, without the taint of celebrity and the pressure of wealth and power.

1. The slow walking of the name removal is a matter of public record. 2. The Board of the Kennedy Center would appear to be opening itself up to some interesting legal liability.

The first time a team of labors working for Trump have been told to "work to the rule." IYKYK

i hope media executives are taking note of the tens of thousands of people who for several hours on a friday night have stayed glued to livestreams of scaffolding being built just so they could witness his name getting knocked off a building

Read it all. Doctrow's polymorphous intellect aggregates a diverse set of issues, and he finds the relationships among the issues better than anyone writing social and technical commentary in essay form that I know of, and as an author of fiction, Butler, Gibson, Sterling, and Stephenson.

How many generations will it take to make misogyny and racism (and the other malignant prejudices socially unacceptable? I'm 64 -- I know I'm not going to see it in my lifetime.

every single story about literally anything should have a paragraph reminding the public that widespread U.S. corruption has lobotomized all of our consumer protection and financial regulators and gridlocked congress

We are not amused. Also: #swampass is real, as is #globalwarming.

Living through this time feels like the human version of dog years

A reminder that what DJT did to Kristen Welker on camera happens to people, and more often women, all the time. It's the behavior of a narcissistic abuser attempting to assert control and authority. His use of the word "darling" and touching her shoulder was a threat of violence and retaliation.

My parents taught me to question authority and require that people attempting to exert authority justify with facts why they are entitled to do so. "Prove it" was what my father called it. I'm glad they are dead, because wealth and power are the only two things people use to wield authority.

Breonna Taylor would have been 33 years old today..... If she hadn't been murdered by Louisville police officers.

The United States has an identifying facts and critical thinking problem, and it's correlated with political and social identity. Fixing this will take a long time and constant effort.

Just a reminder that our serving President was tried and convicted as a sexual abuser, is an adjudicated rapist, has been accused by dozens of women of sexual misconduct, and had sealed the court testimony of his divorce proceeding with his first wife, Ivanka.

Maybe, just maybe, political parties that have broad participation at the local, state, and national levels *and* hold members accountable for their behavior at every level are a good idea. This is about *every* elected politician and candidate in the United States.

The UK is experiencing a similar problem to the US. Hint: it's not only the Constitution that's causing the crisis the rule of law in the Anglophone world.

It's a whole thing

MAKE THE GUARANTEE CLAUSE GREAT AGAIN

MAKE THE GUARANTEE CLAUSE GREAT AGAIN @davidhgans.bsky.social in @slate.com slate.com/news-and-pol...

A reminder that if we spent a tiny fraction of what we on defense instead on renewable energy research and building a resilient energy infrastructure, we wouldn't be where we are now, dependent on authoritarian states and oligarchic corporations, and in violent conflict involving petroleum.

Pride acknowledgements done right, with historical context. The public history of LGBTQ folks *is* resistance history. We stand with other communities working for equality, justice, and representation. Thank you, @mayor.nyc.gov

Gardening news: two weeks ago I put out four trays of seedlings to "harden off" before planting them in our vegetable garden, borders, and containers. About 75% of the seedlings have been eaten, some down to the roots. Time for Plan B. Gardening is an ongoing experiment and test of resilience.

impartial scientific research is the enemy of despotism and so naturally vought wants to destroy it

Also consider: some of the actors interested in destabilizing the United States may well be inside the house and not obviously connected with foreign states and non-state actors.

Lee Greenwood may be available ....

BREAKING: New proposed OMB regulation, applying to all federal grants, requiring grant reviews by senior political appointees and re-emphasizes that "peer review remains advisory and does not replace agency discretion". #standupforscience public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2026-10817.pdf

I'm hearing reports that the NY State Assembly just passed the plug-in solar vote by a wide margin, joining the State Senate. Assuming the governor signs it, that will be the 8th state making it legal (and the biggest). A groundswell across the country, and so many thanks to great organizers!

Yes, we're going to keep talking loudly about actual serious institutional reform to American politics, because it is necessary & the broken constitutional order is unsustainable. You talk about the most ambitious reforms to make more incremental ones possible. Not doing this is actually bad.

1. Read all of this, and then follow @karlbode.com and @techdirt.com 2. The US Congress and the EU should have been all over digital identity and data ownership and protection when Google and others started monetizing and profiting from online personal data in the late 90s and early 00s.

10/10. No notes. Snark and information perfectly paired.