the rise of the incel and the rise of the strongman are two connected and mutually reinforcing responses to the evils of modernity. new post

Well this seems important today.

Someone needs to tell the American people what's going on in the Pentagon, and it obviously won't be Pete Hegseth, who is at war with America's senior military officers. My latest: www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

6:49am: sudden spike in oil futures trading. no news. no announcement. nothing public. 7:05am: trump announces a pause on iran strikes. markets move. someone knew. 16 minutes early. $580 million in contracts. the corruption is staggering.

Trump appeared to have business motive for keeping classified documents, Jack Smith finds www.ms.now/news/trump-c...

It’s the biggest story. Dems forced Republicans to the table with a common sense solution. Fund TSA, FEMA, & the Coast Guard, then negotiate over ICE reforms. Trump said “no.” No deals with Democrats. Just like with the immigration bill in 2024. A disabled GOP in Congress is in Trump’s interest.

The 2024 Data Don't Lie: The only issue voters can clearly associate with the modern D Party is support for gay rights. That's it. Voters are 50/50 on which party is on SS and Medicare. Yes, really. That's why we need to leave pound them on the economy and critical programs like Medicaid.

One thing that AI evangelists seem to assume, particularly legal AI evangelists assume, is that the thinking and analysis is quick, and the writing is just tedious busywork that slows us down. But the writing IS the thinking and analysis. You work out the thinking and analysis by writing it down.

Joshua Haymes & Brooks Potteiger (Pete Hegseth's pastor) pray imprecatory psalms against James Talarico: "I pray that God kills him. Ultimately, that means killing his heart and raising him up to new life in Christ ... If it would not be within God's will to do so, stop him by any means necessary."

Sometimes I feel like academic work is a poor fit for the moment. While the university is under threat, engagement with the public is not incentivized. Along with some friends, we started Society Workshop as a way to bring more social science to the public. www.societyworkshop.org

Take a look at what he’s saying now about communist sympathizer David Frum and fake Xian James Talarico.

I'm not saying I know or agree with everything he's advocating or whatever. But if he's using his platform as a Christian leader to go loud against Christian nationalist rhetoric & policy, then he can be more influential than we've been, sadly. So I'm grateful. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Here's one reason I appreciate Talarico. Experimental research finds when self-identifying Christian leaders say "I'm a Christian and Christian nationalism is bad news for everyone," it can get those movable people in the middle to distance themselves from it. doi.org/10.1007/s111...

And now the same evangelical pastors are freaking out about David French’s support of Talarico’s “blasphemy.”

Fox & Friends: "We want to acknowledge a mistake made earlier on our program. During our coverage of yesterday's dignified transfer, we inadvertently aired video from an older dignified transfer instead of the ceremony that took place yesterday. We deeply regret the error."

Wow -- as first spotted by @BadFoxGraphics on X, Fox & Friends this morning used *old footage of a previous dignified transfer* to mislead their audience about the fact that Trump wore a baseball cap during the one yesterday

THREAD: I got laid off from NYMag/Vulture after 14 years. The family lost 75% of income + medical. Now mzs.press bookstore, once a side project. is do-or-die for Judith & I. I feel weird telling you this because others are doing much worse. But if you could like or share this, we'd be so grateful!

WSJ reporting that the U.S. used Claude for the air strikes in Iran. Centcom has been using Claude "for intelligence assessments, target identification and simulating battle scenarios" www.wsj.com/livecoverage...

Exclusive: Federal officials have raised alarm about the safety and reliability of xAI’s Grok chatbot.

Dozens of FBI witness interviews from the investigation of Jeffrey Epstein appear to be missing from the files released by the Department of Justice last month, according to a CNN review – including interviews related to a woman who accused President Trump of sexually assaulting her decades ago.

BREAKING: NPR, MS NOW: Trump-related files missing from DOJ Epstein file release. MS NOW Senior Legal Reporter Lisa Rubin explains

An NPR investigation found that the DOJ withheld some Epstein files related to abuse allegations against Trump. And, what you need to know ahead of the president's State of the Union address tonight. n.pr/4aT95Eh

If you want a pet, you get to support it. Taxpayers shouldn’t have to subsidize it.

“Raskin also said that he saw ‘references to 17-year-old girls, 16-year-old girls, 14-year-old girls, 11-year-old girls, 10-year-old girls, and I saw a reference today to a 9-year-old girl. So it is a really gruesome and grim story.’“ www.nbcnews.com/politics/tru...

Less than 14% of nearly 400,000 immigrants arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in President Trump's first year back in the White House had charges or convictions for violent criminal offenses, according to an internal Department of Homeland Security document obtained by CBS News.

Democrats should be working nonstop on a comprehensive immigration plan that they can put on the table in January. Not concepts of a plan but an actual plan that treats people humanely and creates a system that can counteract the open borders narrative. @vanhollen.senate.gov @alsobrooks.senate.gov

happening this morning in Minneapolis -- ICE agents drawing guns on observers. I reiterate again that it is only a matter of time before DHS kills more innocent people in Minnesota. Congress needs to shut this shit down right now.

Never forget. 🇺🇸

David Simon, creator of The Wire, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (lmao) of NPR:

This is the last thing the BBC needs

@mrbrettgoldstein.bsky.social Latest episode of Shrinking had me in tears. “Please be okay, Louis.”