this exists it is called thinking

Headlines matter. Framing matters. AP: it’s about democracy NYT: it’s about a political fight

I don't think you should be allowed to take credit for ending a war if you don't know the names of the countries involved in it.

Brian Klaas, 14 June, www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

In this scary moment, it matters for each of us to affirm that political violence is wrong and will destroy our democracy.

The assassination of Charlie Kirk is horrific, it's likely to lead to a very dark spiral that will worsen political violence, and it is also a byproduct of a profoundly broken society awash in 400 million guns.

10 million years ago, our lineage of apes got a tiny little evoutionary tweak, to one amino acid, that is the reason we can now drink alcohol. I trace the evolutionary origins of alcohol consumption to explore the rise of civilization and why our relationship with alcohol matters for our history:

I somehow missed this when it came out in March but it is well worth reading still. Klaas is one of the best at describing the stakes and the facts and the nature of the Republicans' affronts to democracy and reason.

One of those "it's hard to be shocked in 2025, but...." stories. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This explains almost everything.

10 million years ago, our lineage of apes got a tiny little evoutionary tweak, to one amino acid, that is the reason we can now drink alcohol. I trace the evolutionary origins of alcohol consumption to explore the rise of civilization and why our relationship with alcohol matters for our history:

This was written just 6 weeks in to Trump 2 8 months in, & as the courts pivot to cutting him more slack, it feels more prescient & more urgent than it would have done at the time

I wrote this back in March but I think it's important now more than ever to understand competitive authoritarianism--and the concrete steps that can be used to fight back against it. It's going to be difficult, but it's not a lost cause--and the fight is worth it. I explain the best strategies here:

Wow. New NBC poll finds 78% support vaccines, including 72% of independents and 67% of Republicans. As I keep trying to argue, Democrats should polarize the shit out of the vaccine/public health debate. Make people take sides. It will split Republicans and MAGA. See this:

This post from 2023 is inexplicably being resurrected - lots of notifications! - and I'm here, two years later, now knowing about The Detectorists, which I hadn't seen back then, and is probably my new favorite.

After dismal job numbers out today, Trump will be even more keen to get his Nazi warship-loving, sexist, conspiracy theory-peddling edgelord EJ Antoni running the Bureau of Labor Statistics. I wrote about how authoritarians insist on juking the stats and how Antoni is part of that strategy, here:

The percentage of Americans who "strongly disapprove" of the job Trump is doing as POTUS is 2x as large as the % who "strongly approve" This is a pretty bearish signal for the GOP in this year's off-yr elections. & this is why he's trying to rebrand the OBBB www.gelliottmorris.com/p/trumps-str...

Gun murders last year: US: 17,927 England & Wales: 22 Here's the data, per capita, in the chart below. It's the guns. I wrote about the evidence, with lots of data, along with a more personal response to the Annunciation Church shooting (where I was baptized): www.forkingpaths.co/p/guns-at-an...

I enjoyed this. And what an infectious laugh. ❤️ "Reporter left speechless after witnessing Japan's new $70 million Maglev train in action at 310 mph"

This is like watching a Victorian time traveler befuddled at trying to work an iPhone. Just completely lost and confused by all the intervening context of the different era he's now in.

Gun murders last year: US: 17,927 England & Wales: 22 Here's the data, per capita, in the chart below. It's the guns. I wrote about the evidence, with lots of data, along with a more personal response to the Annunciation Church shooting (where I was baptized): www.forkingpaths.co/p/guns-at-an...

Beautifully written and sharply observed. Decades ago, I had an extremely clever student who (for reasons I never understood) worked summers as a blackjack dealer. She referred to casinos/gambling as "the lunatic fringe of capitalism." Now. as the saying goes, the lunatics are running the asylum.

I’ve read about this so many times and still cannot get my head around it. This is a startling comment… “It is currently a country with more political capital being spent on banning books than banning assault rifles.”

This is an excellent piece. Well researched and damning about the prevalence and worship of guns in the U.S.

I am so disgustingly sick of avoidable tragedies like the mass shooting at Annunciation Church (where I was baptized) in Minneapolis. The problem is simple: it's the guns. Here's the data, charts, and maps that prove it, with plenty of robust international comparisons:

I am so disgustingly sick of avoidable tragedies like the mass shooting at Annunciation Church (where I was baptized) in Minneapolis. The problem is simple: it's the guns. Here's the data, charts, and maps that prove it, with plenty of robust international comparisons:

GOP responses to mass shootings: Step 1: Blame it on mental health, not guns Step 2: Vote to cut funding for mental health Repeat I live outside the US, and I can assure you: the rest of the world has people with mental health problems. What they don't have is easy access to unlimited guns.

The US has more guns than people. Brian Klaas picks off the arguments against gun control, one by one.

I wrote about Trumpian culture, the Liver King, scams, frauds, corruption—and the new structural economic and political incentives that have caused us to enter a new era of inequality dominated by hucksters, which I call: The Grifted Age. www.forkingpaths.co/p/the-grifte...

This is the ballgame:

Another terrific essay by @brianklaas.bsky.social. I was especially struck-and in the comments, too-by the challenge of being ethical, fair, and honest in a culture that seems not to reward it, and in fact disadvantages it. My answer I guess is: if you're actually ethical, there is no choice.

The Grifted Age is indeed a good moniker for our current period. It happens when the Parasitic Elite see everything as a racket.

This is an excellent piece by @brianklaas.bsky.social although I now have the displeasure of knowing who the Liver King is

I wrote about Trumpian culture, the Liver King, scams, frauds, corruption—and the new structural economic and political incentives that have caused us to enter a new era of inequality dominated by hucksters, which I call: The Grifted Age. www.forkingpaths.co/p/the-grifte...

The Democratic base + decent anti-Trump people are craving someone to lead them in proper resistance NOW, not just cynically positioning themselves for 2028. The CDC walkout is the kind of organic moment that a real leader would run with and use as a springboard for more acts of visible defiance.

Wow how mind-boggling that they give a shit about other people when they could just be watching Fox News

This is a real photograph of Washington, DC this week, where the United States president has ordered military occupation in peacetime, and ordered the display of colossal portraits of himself. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

An excellent if chilling article from @brianklaas.bsky.social

This article is worth reading. Opened my eyes. #resist #goodtrouble

This is a fascinating deep dive into the statistics around America's obsession with guns compared to other countries. It's chilling, honestly.

What people expect fascism to look like versus what it often looks like in real life

Early reports of a school shooting this morning at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis (I was baptized at the church there). As always: it's the guns. The US is the only country in the world that politically tolerates and legally ensures the routine mass slaughter of its own citizens.

Early reports of a school shooting this morning at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis (I was baptized at the church there). As always: it's the guns. The US is the only country in the world that politically tolerates and legally ensures the routine mass slaughter of its own citizens.

"When is everyone going to say we have had enough of Islam once and for all?" asks Loomer. Imagine a top ally of President Biden saying: "When is everyone going to say we have had enough of Judaism once and for all?" Would there be media silence? Wouldn't every Democrat be asked to denounce it?

How much are our lives and our histories determined by tectonic forces of geology and arbitrary features of geography? I answer that question by weaving together seemingly disparate events involving geology, a Philadelphia ad agency, and an ancient inland sea...all culminating in a brutal civil war:

Trump's attempted takeover of the Fed is straight out of the authoritarian playbook. From despots past and present, we know how this ends--and it's very bad news for the US economy and the world. I explain here: www.forkingpaths.co/p/jerome-pow...

Fabulous @brianklaas.bsky.social newsletter episode on promising developments in the fight against Alzheimer, how comb jelly have a completely unique type of nervous system and much more. www.forkingpaths.co/p/brain-food...

As someone who co-wrote "How to Rig an Election" with @fromagehomme.bsky.social, let me just say how insane it is that the US president is peddling talking points on "honest elections" from a dictator who routinely rigs votes, sometimes by hunting down and murdering his political opponents.