The debacle that is the Trump Administration's treatment of agriculture. It's even worse than you might have thought.

New Interview: www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a...

me: "If A and B are married, and A is jonesing for the next-door neighbor but never does anything about it and doesn't change their behavior toward B, is A wronging B by jonesing for the neighbor?" class: "What's jonesing?" me: "A is thirsty for the neighbor." class: "What do you mean?" me: dead.

standard scientific practice says that if one theory proposes that banal phenomena are a 'miracle', and a rival theory offers a non-miraculous explanation, that's a really good reason to prefer the rival theory

This morning’s reading includes the following exquisite footnote 81: “See references in footnote 81.”

I fear that I will never forget this. But it is a great example of how success in a venture or two can lead a person to think that they really do have it all figured out.

This is an incredible documentation of the systematic, intentional collapse of American health science, by Elizabeth Ginexi. open.substack.com/pub/elizabet...

Some coinages for the Sunday Spelling bee: Parrotic: for those who just repeat what’s already been said Proctocaptic: asshole-grabbing; as in, “that’s a proctocaptic plan.” Craptico: for when things are no longer simpatico.

Here's a thread of relaxing fun websites to get away from the noise 1. This is sand dot com Let the sand flow and create weird little landscapes (this is one I did) thisissand.com

Before they take an oath to uphold the Constitution, can we require them to pass a basic exam about the contents of the Constitution?

With Texas and Florida taking up the lion's share of attention, I think people might be sleeping on just how oppressive the situation for public higher education is in Indiana right now

Corporate broadcast coverage of climate change fell 35% in the last year, even as Trump systemically dismantled climate policy and billion-dollar disasters rose The gradual deprioritization led NBC climate reporter Chase Cain to hit a breaking point, and he quit last week Here's our interview:

1908: the Lancet, one of the most respected scientific journals, calls for 18 age limit on reading in bed amidst a moral panic surrounding children becoming "addicted" to novels, which were "designed to keep kids hooked" and destroy their attention/mental health

Up is down is up

An NPR investigation finds the public database of Epstein files is missing dozens of pages related to sexual abuse accusations against President Trump. n.pr/4qTItsU

A beautiful reckoning of the destruction of elite research universities in the US.

The normies are at a session on Tim Williamson’s latest book, but the real ones are meeting to talk about Greek mathematics.

Overheard at the philosophy conference: “Reality has some things going for it.”

I don’t really know what I expect in posting this, but maybe some people see it and can learn from it. I’ll call it “lessons from an unwilling immigration attorney.” 1/

"Land of the Free, Home of the Brave"

Hey, my name is in the Epstein files! I've told the story before, but should probably re-up. TLDR: never met the guy, never took (or asked for) any money from him, never visited the island. I was invited to the island, and said no. It's not that hard to just say no.

Bad Bunny has a consulting historian. news.wisc.edu/pop-star-bad...

Any explanation of the NFL's choice of colors for the Super Bowl logo this year? My Little Pony fans, maybe? Or nostalgia for the peak Jazzercise Era? The scheme did fit the Seahawks' uniforms much better than the Patriots, which no doubt had some influence.

If anyone, especially outside the US, is wondering how the US public became so susceptible to misinformation and insanity, this graphic tells an important part of that tale....

Academics: If you’re trying to make sense of how people you know knew Epstein, it’s book agent John Brockman. He’s savvy enough to lay low, but we should be talking about him. Friends don’t let friends sign with Brockman. www.buzzfeednews.com/article/pete... And newrepublic.com/article/1548...

I used to be sad about what was happening to the newspaper I took great pride in for the 48 years I worked there. Now I'm just furious. Bezos did to The Washington Post what Trump did to America.

A devastating public service announcement about the dangers of gambling.

This @bostonreview.bsky.social piece by @adambonica.bsky.social and @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social is an absolute must-read, as are many of the responses to it. Spread this one far and wide.

Immigrants in USA: Paid more in taxes than received in benefits every year 1994-2023. Generated ~$10.6 trillion more federal/state/local taxes than the gov spending they induced. Saved $14.5 trillion in debt over 30y period (accounting for savings on interest payments on the national debt).

ChatGPT is Trump’s biggest donor and is used by ICE. If you don’t like Trump or ICE, you should quit ChatGPT.

AI bros steal our work and make it infinitely worse. Insult to injury.

Here's the full #AncientBlackness thread in blog format opietasanimi.com/2025/03/08/a...

The GOP blames women for undermining them on issues like abortion & ICE & thus hopes to pass the “SAVE Act,” which will make it harder for married women who changed their last names to vote. But they want you to think it’s about “election integrity”. 1/31/26 #HandmaidsTale 1/

Hard cut to the Bankers of Puteoli, looking up from their wax tablet financial ledgers, "quid dicas, caudex?"* before going back to their numbers and olive oil. (*trans, "say what, you blockhead?" with the neat added pun that a caudex (lit 'stump') could also be used to mean a ledger)

Leading democratic politicians should make plans to be in Springfield on February 4th

My employer just emailed its "approach to well-being," which includes "8ight Ways to Wellness." If only the Buddhists had known about how to use numbers as letters, their recommendations might have really caught on.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara: "People have had enough. This is the third shooting in less than 3 weeks. The MPD went the entire year last year recovering about 900 guns from the street, arresting hundreds of violent offenders, and we didn't shoot anyone ... this is not sustainable."

TL;DR capitalism poisons everything.

Tomorrow morning is today! Set aside five minutes to call/email/text/fax/yell at in person your reps to abolish ICE.

Ouch. I haven't read a review this harsh in a while.

5 Seismic shocks to the military marked 2025. Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation makes sense of a chaotic year of attacks as Christian nationalists attempt total takeover. "It feels like December 30, 1933, in Germany." 1/13 barnraisingmedia.com/five-seismic...

It is FOMO masquerading as leadership, with the foolish assumption that innovation is always good.

Lukewarm take, as a break: Marty Supreme depends on the idea that the protagonist— Timothée Chalamet—is so attractive and charismatic that women would take serious risks for him. There have been Hollywood leads who could have made that plausible. Chalamet is not one of them.

This opens up wider questions about how far the UK and Canada in the 5 eyes intel sharing framework as well as other former allies of the United States can still provide the Americans with any sensitive intelligence information at all

this is very much not the core of the issue. we tolerate all sorts of biological advantages and disadvantages in sports. the real fundamental question here is: why is this one different than the others?

Terribly uncanny how relevant this is to today.

Again, Trump's foreign and economic policies aren't really realist, or imperialist, or neo-royalist, or about spheres of influence, etc. Their primarily just sexual predation/abuse elevated the level of the state. bsky.app/profile/mcop...

They are always running the last election, and never the next one. So frustrating.