this is the kind of merit that pete hegseth has brought to the department of defense

you can't force someone to be a good teammate, that's a vital lesson

Internet pals, I have a book coming out in March (my fifth) & I’d like to have a publishing experience that feels healthy, positive, celebratory, even joyful. I’d love any wisdom about what has felt good & healthy for you in the past, things you wish you’d done differently, etc. Thanks in advance!

another day, another story about the administration's war on knowledge itself, all in service of allow its corporate patrons free rein to rob us blind and poison our world www.nytimes.com/2026/06/01/c...

"a mistake to cede the argument for the good life to the right. We should pursue a progressive educational philosophy directed toward human flourishing. Cultivation of virtues, each with their own intrinsic ends: archaeological dig, chemistry lab, ethnography, mathematical proof, close reading"

I loved I Love Boosters and it’s definitely going on the syllabus 😂😂😂

Westworld Season 5 2026

This is it.

NYTimes about to be running so many stories at boat-up restaurants with gas pumps up north, asking thrice-divorced rich guys from the Twin Cites, MKE, and Chi exurbs what they think of the price of ski boat gas

Yes. Using a computer now feels like this at all times.

we don't have a masculinity crisis. we have a patriarchy crisis. patriarchy creates and sustains male unhappiness with its dogmatic, toxic, rigid definition of masculinity which says the worst and most undesirable thing a human can be is female which is how we get insults like "Low-T Talarico"

I’m a climate scientist. Let me fix this headline. “Nearly a century ago, scientists showed that burning fossil fuels warms the planet. Today, we know human emissions account for over 100% of the warming. Yet dark money and disinformation still work to keep Americans addicted to fossil fuels.”

Looks like World Cup tourists will be introduced to the cherished American tradition of getting ripped the fuck off when trying to catch a ride

Good job Minnesota 💪🏿

Also intriguing: the kids are right. Reading, writing on, touching, and thinking with paper focuses, produces, and humanizes.

"The intrigue: Epsing says students tell her binders and pencils feel lighter than Chromebooks and help them focus better." I love/hate that the student perspective is the "intrigue" in this story. It is indeed intriguing that we would ask students about their experience.

Thread. "Growing uses of AI models, tools and systems are deciding who gets a loan, who gets hired, who gets flagged for fraud, and what mental health advice our young people see. Most of the time, we have no idea it is happening, no way to voice concern, and no way to push back."

Generative AI is class war waged by freakish billionaires who want to reorder society so they never have to look a non-rich person in the eye.

Lonnie Bunch is an incredible historian and public servant. I get that this story is largely a profile of him and the "Aspirations" exhibit. But I do wish it said a little more about the boring bureaucratic stuff of the Board of Regents membership, which will decide his future at the Smithsonian.

“‘Are you afraid?’” Mr. Bunch said, referring to White House pressure.“I said, ‘Afraid was trying to walk home with people trying to beat me up in New Jersey.’ This is not something to be afraid of. This is something where you stand firm to make sure that the integrity of this mission is protected.”

the clear takeaway here is that the administration wants to unlawfully seize the smithsonian and make it a temple for white supremacist “history” www.nytimes.com/2026/05/28/a...

Hey skyline... is it possible that our master thesis has been scraped up into the LLMs too?

Listening to @theferocity.bsky.social read Robert Frost on the latest episode of Vibe Check, a good poem I forgot about, and I blurted out loud that as Saeed said he's kinda mopey that Frost is the Eeyore of poetry.

"no matter the intent or how many pro bono cases it handles, what a Big Law firm spends the overwhelming majority of its time doing is fighting to create legal precedent that will entrench the power of those who already have it." www.nytimes.com/2026/05/27/o...

JFC new IEA report shows: orders for fossil methane plants for data centres are bigger in the US than they for *any other country for any other reason* (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) "if data centres were a country, they would be the second-largest destination for gas turbines ordered from Q1 2025 to Q1 2026"

Mistral AI veut être présent « sur toute la chaîne de valeur », des data centers aux applications chez les entreprises, pour contrer la domination américaine

So far this year, authorities have seized or demanded ballots from elections in four states. Experts fear the trend could throw the midterms into chaos unless courts draw a line. www.wired.com/story/ballot...

I've said it before and I'll say it again -- the kids are all right. They've got more courage and moral clarity than most of the people in charge right now. Get out of their way and let them cook.

Misogyny is an increasing factor in far-right attacks, but it often goes unnoticed. n.pr/4tWJ12w

Important new reporting on racial profiling in hundreds of ICE street arrests around NYC, using habeas petitions filed in three federal courts between October 2025 and March 2026:

I can and cannot believe this is a real thing

A thing I think about all the time is that there are waves of millennial women hitting peri and menopause in an increasingly warming world due to the climate crisis.

There are no good guys in big tech.

A Pope is a Pope and will always believe many things I do not believe, but that does not change how absolutely bang-on correct and beautifully articulated this is.

Wisconsin for sure hates Milwaukee

No it the fuck was not.

This has all the red flags of addiction AND an abusive relationship. The DSM needs a whole new volume to deal with what gen A.I. is doing to people

It’s worth noting that when Jan. 6 happened, the pro-Trump right used dozens of conspiracy theories to try and offload blame from themselves—e.g., claiming it was “antifa,” “feds.” Now, they seem keen to just admit they did it—all of it—and it was good.

If you acknowledge that the richest man in the world is a Nazi is has all sorts of unsettling implications about the moral valence of success and the arc of society, so it's easier to just ignore it entirely.

I'm heartbroken and angry to be losing so many #GenX Black men. In March, a panel led by Boston's Mayor Wu shared the results of a study to understand lower lifespan of Black residents, esp. Black Men. The average Black man has a life expectancy 9.3 yrs less than that of other men. 1/ #BlackSky 🌱

Rapper Rob Base has died after a battle with cancer. He was 59. His team shared the news of his death on his Instagram page. Base was one half of the Harlem hip-hop duo Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock. n.pr/3PTpp1k

$9-billion taxpayer transfer to a $5 trillion company for US spy agencies to go all in on AI. NYT doesn't include a single critical word from a privacy or civil liberties expert. Just a don't-worry-about-it assurance at the end. Also: Anthropic is not our friend. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/22/u...

This week, you may have heard about fabricated, AI-generated quotes appearing in a book covering AI's reality-skewing effects. I talked to the author, and what came out is, I think, a fascinating look at how people justify their own continued of these imperfect tools arstechnica.com/ai/2026/05/a...

Why do I read non-US publications? Because they are more likely to deal in reality instead of propaganda. "Mango orchards and coconut stalls are no longer the lush, green and tropical reality of Indian summers — they are turning brutal." India. Too hot for AI? Great question.

““My mother did not give her life. Her life was taken and it shocked the nation enough that they passed the Voting Rights Act in 1965,” he said, adding that the Supreme Court and Trump administration were “working tirelessly to go back to the ‘60s.” “It’s disgusting,” he said.”

Indeed. As I wrote a decade ago: thediplomat.com/2016/03/trum...

This has been my practice since 2021…