“What happens if we lose archeological sites, built heritage, objects that tell stories about us as humans? We lose our stories. We lose knowledge about us. Our past selves, our present selves, our future selves. The loss of culture is a loss of identity.”

Archaeologists in Gaza Rushed to Rescue Thousands of Ancient Artifacts From an Impending Airstrike

Gabrielle rapidly intensifies into a Category 3 hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean and is forecast to stay away from land.

An earthquake with a magnitude of 4.3 rocked the San Francisco Bay Area early Monday, waking up many people, with more 22,000 saying they felt it, according to the United States Geological Survey. https://to.pbs.org/47QIx6R

“We have one individual who, who I would call a moron, who is an absolute classified megalomaniac, who is insatiable with his desire to feed his ego. And do people like that solve problems? They don’t give you solutions other than: fire this, do this, do that…"

NEW @teenvogue.com: a Texas bill passed this summer mandating schools deadname trans students, leaving enforcement to districts. @kitoconnell.com speaks to trans students in TX: “I’ve never felt more at threat here. I can’t stop thinking that everything would be so different if I detransitioned.”

Does Klein earnestly believe the reason you don't see progressives tour conservative evangelical churches to defend abortion or some such is that progressives are dispositionally less interested in debate and civil discourse than the right? Genuinely? www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/o...

“What struck me about Robert Redford is he was so wonderful. He met everyone as a human being at any level. He was a beautiful human.”

In the week since Charlie Kirk was killed, we seen an astonishing restriction of free expression. The rules of the new game are being written. How far you can go, who gets to decide, who gets to enforce it, and who is exempt from enforcement entirely. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

“The death of Charlie Kirk is a turning point in our fight for civilization.” From Germany to South Africa to Great Britain to Japan, ultra-nationalist movements have seized on Charlie Kirk's death to make him a martyr.

Welcome to Right-Wing Reeducation Camp jill.substack.com/p/welcome-to... by @jillfilipovic.bsky.social

“The tap water is cloudy, smells strange and upsets stomachs, the families told their attorneys. The hand soap the facility provides for showers has been causing rashes, the families said. Children also struggle eating the food, like the snacks of graham crackers, apples, juice and milk.”

US judge keeps block on Trump effort to deport Guatemalan unaccompanied children reut.rs/42DsBBf

Leo embraced Pope Francis’ message for LGBTQ+ Catholics that “todos, todos, todos” are welcome in the Catholic Church but said that he found “it highly unlikely” the church’s core doctrine about sexuality would change anytime soon. https://to.pbs.org/4gAXbl6

Orwell 🤝 Kafka

While I am loathed to quote Michael Tracey, and I disagree with the primary thesis of his most recent piece on the right’s “George Floyd Moment,” he does offer a few important insights — this paragraph in particular:

Don't miss this brutally important essay from Ta-Nehisi Coates. "By ignoring the rhetoric and actions of the Turning Point USA founder, pundits and politicians are sanitizing his legacy."

JUST IN: Trump FCC Chair Threatens ABC With Punishment Over Jimmy Kimmel’s Charlie Kirk Comments www.mediaite.com/media/news/j...

This is weapons grade cringe.

“The Trump admin, MAGA media and “centrist” fellow travelers are cherry-picking a handful of people acting crudely and stupidly on the internet …and using them to justify or excuse an ideological crackdown on Americans.” @anthonylfisher.bsky.social www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

We now have a MAGA congressman using Charlie Kirk to call for taking trans people "off the streets," putting them into institutions, and banning them from the internet. talkingpointsmemo.com/news/texas-c...

"The shooting provides the perfect pretext for tightening his grip, silencing dissent, and concentrating power – so that his successors may inherit full state control, regardless of charisma, merit or mandate."

How Charlie Kirk's death became the ultimate conspiracy theory

NEW: FBI Director Kash Patel says recent court orders — related to a few dozen pages of grand jury material — are preventing him from releasing the FBI's massive trove of Epstein files. That's not what the courts actually said. www.politico.com/live-updates...

1. Anti-trans rhetoric heated up yesterday on the far-right, with two congresspeople and major Republican figures calling for the institutionalization of trans people. Both Reps Nancy Mace and Ronny Jackson made such calls. Musk, Loomer, and Walsh echoed them. Subscribe to support our journalism.

“With their stunning lava displays and hydrothermal emissions, these famous volcanoes may be providing the ultimate misdirection, causing us to focus on the wrong characters in the story of Earth’s relationship with humanity.”

Volcanoes can help us untangle the evolution of humans – here’s how

At least 17 states have taken steps to ensure broader access to the COVID-19 vaccine since last month, when the federal government significantly restricted eligibility for the shot. via @stateline.org www.newsfromthestates.com/article/more...

At Fourth World Farm, we have rematriated over 70 native species, which encourages the repopulation of the valley in and of itself; everything that has been erased gets to seed and go back out into the zone. #IAMTHEWEST buff.ly/IVMy5Sg

“What happened with the Black Hills is so clearly theft in relation to the U.S.’s own laws.”

Did an Enslaved Chocolatier Help Hercules Mulligan Foil a Plot to Assassinate George Washington?

If A.I. continues to speed or automate creative work, the total volume of cultural “stuff”—podcasts, videos, books, songs, articles, films, shows, plays, online personae, and so on—will increase. Will human-created content be able to cut through the noise?

Robert Redford’s talent could seem invisible until the right conditions made it heroically apparent. K. Austin Collins on the how the late actor snuck into our lives and onto our screens with understated grace:

“I think if those actions are followed through by the governor, they’re gonna face a lot of lawsuits. And if you’d ask me, I’d rather be on the teacher’s side of that lawsuit.”

Vance, Trump, and Bondi each said things yesterday that were horrifying on their own. Taken together, a very clear roadmap for the future emerges Trump is actively preparing a large-scale crackdown on left-wing dissent. The threat of widescale repression is no longer abstract; it is imminent

After Fox and Friends co-host Brian KilMeade said that homeless people should given"involuntary injection or something. Just kill 'em." There has been TWO mass shootings at homeless encampments just in Minneapolis. 13 people wounded, five critically. abcnews.go.com/US/people-hu...

"You know what’s actually tough? It’s facing your own issues. It’s confronting your deepest fears and traumas. It’s being vulnerable and open with someone you’ve just met. It’s taking responsibility for your behavior. Getting help is the brave thing to do."

Last week: Many of our grandparents and great-grandparents came to the United States fleeing similar conditions afflicting current arrivals, seeking a country guided by democracy, freedom, and the rule of law, so different from the tyranny and oppression of their homelands.

In Glasgow, a 64-year-old man was arrested because he held a sign that said “Genocide in Palestine, time to take action.” His crime? That “Palestine” and “action” had been printed in larger font than the other words on his sign. The old bogeyman of the protester-as-terrorist has returned.

"There’s something really magical about redwood forests. Hanging out in a tree that you know is 2,000 years old and kind of stoically standing in one place, you kind of have to experience to be able to explain."

Flesh-eating bacteria are becoming more pervasive—here’s why

The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights reported receiving nearly 23,000 complaints in fiscal 2024, the most ever. Parents of disabled children now fear serious allegations will never be investigated. kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

An immigration judge ruled ICE can’t deport Catalina “Xochitl” Santiago, who has permission to be in the country, unless the agency can provide evidence that her legal status was revoked.

"The coral that makes up the Great Barrier Reef has experienced the greatest decline in recorded history. According to yearly surveys that track the state of coral, the reef has declined by up to a third in some parts following a major bleaching event in 2024."

Scientists Want Your Help to Track the Spread of Invasive Joro Spiders at Great Smoky Mountains National Park

This is basically every conservative on Twitter right now.

We’ve been living through 72 nonstop hours of this exact tweet

An Iowa official defied the governor’s orders to fly flags at half-staff for Charlie Kirk, writing he wouldn't honor a man who "did so much harm"

🤔…