Interesting. It again shows the disconnect between USA and Israeli interests in this Iran War, and it also shows Trump's reluctance to resume the fighting. share.newsbreak.com/ihj74o8f

Wildly corrupt and gross. Even though I think voters don't care much about corruption-related issues,I think there's a chance they'll care about this, because it's *so* over the line/egregious.

“May has been a brutal month for anyone hoping for signs that the Republican base has grown tired of President Trump’s anti-democratic strongman shtick,” Michelle Cottle writes.

So ... ● Regime change *was* a goal, or at least a contemplated endgame, of the Iran War. ● But *this guy* to assume power? That is ... crazy. ● We wound up disillusioning him to the point he bailed out of the plan, and even harsher hardliners took over? Oy. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/19/u...

liberal arts teach you how to analyze information and extract details and draw conclusions. vital no matter what you do later.

"May" screams weakness to me; it suggests we won't attack again. If I felt like Trump had unshakable ideological commitments / definite strategic goals here, I might feel differently. But imo he's been looking for an exit ramp; if one isn't available, he may might stop. share.newsbreak.com/ih3wt3dn

What separates the relatively mild degree of concern for an outbreak of an Ebola strain for which there is no vaccine from the (*v* legit) panic felt when folks saw a novel virus, Covid-19, suddenly develop in Asia? I hope and assume there's no pandemic risk here. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/19/w...

This. And also, people from countries with plenty of engineering schools and research hubs have come here in part because US institutions have humanities and liberal arts in addition to those technical disciplines.

Love this

I hate the decades-long push to deemphasize liberal arts degrees/departments and to elevate degrees designed for job hunting/careers. Liberal arts (which is the kind of department I assume is being "deactivated" here) are important: protect sociology; political science; literature; etc.

The problem is* we won't know. The applications are made public, nor the rulings, nor the amounts. *obviously not the only problem with a slush fund designed to pay off friends, families, allies on taxpayer dime.

I know few Americans care about such things, but Presidents should not be allowed to profit from their role this way, and certainly not while they're in office. It's corrupt and gross. share.newsbreak.com/ig3n53bg

There's a legit argument it is "worth the pain," if Iran was, in fact, weeks away from finishing a "nuke." But it wasn't, and the war hasn't dented their nuclear program, or even their military capabilities. If anything, all we've done is make Iran more hardline and showed them they have leverage.

It's not treason; it's truth. But this highlights another of the awful lessons of the Trump era: if bad actors occupy high office, they can take legit concepts (the press shouldn't outright lie) and distort them to an unrecognizable point, where they can be used in service of, say, authoritarianism.

Maybe Mamdani shouldn't have called out Ken Griffin by name, but Griffin's John Galt / Fountainhead-type reaction ("maybe I'll leave NYC, depriving you of my brilliance and money") seems offensive and laughable, in equal parts. www.wsj.com/us-news/zohr...

No way Trump authored a tweet referring to himself as "yours truly." The quality of presidential tweeting has declined precipitously since Donald J. Trump started delegating the job to staffers. Come back to the tweet-deck, Mr. President!

Westlaw has a "litigation checker," into which you can upload your work or your opponent's work and it'll tell you, along other things, if the citations are correct (so, presumably, it would catch hallucinated cases and mis-cited cases). I wonder if something similar could be designed for academia.

True, but you can carve Congressional districts up in a way that creates many more "safe" seats for the unpopular president's party, and far less representation for the suddenly more popular opposition party, than would've been the case without all the aggressive partisan gerrymandering.

Also, Scott comparing such an attack to 9/11 makes little sense, operationally. 9/11 was a low-tech/high-concept attack. A nuclear weapon is a very high tech attack. I *am* worried about Iran unleashing *actual* 9/11-type attacks on US soil in this war, but I'm far less worried about a "dirty" bomb

A nuclear attack by Iran on US soil would be horrific. But ● Iran wasn't so close to a "nuke" before this war ● we had Iran's nuclear program under control with the JCPOA ● This war incentivizes Iran to get a nuclear bomb ● Iran now *also* has leverage with Hormuz share.newsbreak.com/iflzuroc

Not sure how to feel about this arrangement, honestly. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/14/n...

“Do you want some illegal alien who molested kids to be released back into your community? Or do you want them sent back to their home country?” Offensive, racist, improperly-framed question. And $1 million/day burn rate, to torture people fleeing persecution? www.miamiherald.com/news/politic...

I agree!, a resumption of a "hot war" is possible, but why is it inevitable? I still think Trump could just say, "We won! It's over," and end the USA's involvement, if he's willing to accept Iran's de facto control over the Strait of Hormuz and Iran accelerating its efforts to get nuclear weapons.

"Iran has operational access to 30 of its 33 missile sites along the Strait of Hormuz." And 70% of its pre-war military stockpile. It's maddening. What have we accomplished, aside from teaching Iran that it has leverage with Hormuz and teaching Iranians to hate us? www.nytimes.com/2026/05/12/u...

I don't know how I wound up getting "Quora" Q&A's (@quoramoments.bsky.social) sent to my inbox but ... these must be trolling topics? I mean: • Sleepy Joe let in 20 million illegals! • Why does someone become a liberal? • MSM only lies about Trump! donkeysandelephants.quora.com/Why-can-t-yo...

Awful. At the time the ACA was adopted, Obama made what I thought was a smart bet that Americans would fall so deeply in love with having healthcare coverage that they'd never allow it to be taken from them. And ... voilà

Inflation will accelerate to 4% by the end of 2026, and the average American family will find it "very challenging" to keep up with price increases. That's ... yikes. www.wsj.com/economy/cpi-...

"Consumer prices rose at the fastest rate since May '23 last month." In '23, it was the aftershocks of the once-a-lifetime pandemic. In '26, it's Trump's war of choice, which'd be justified if Iran's nuclear program really was an imminent threat to the US. It wasn't. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/12/b...

And yet, there's so many cross currents / mixed signals it's hard to get a solid picture on the state of the economy. Boom? Certainly not. Recession? Growth and the market and other indicators seem to say no, or at least, "not yet." So, maybe we're just grinding and sputtering along for the moment?

My dude *really* wants to expand the US's territory. He thinks it'll make his "legacy," 😆. RETHINK THIS, POTUS.

So, where do things go from here? I can see either: ● Resume attacks, risking severe escalation ● A quiet end to the conflict; no formal resolution, with the USA and Iran addressing discrete issues, like control over the Strait of Hormuz, at later dates. #IranWar share.newsbreak.com/ie76kpeh

Dumbacrats? Well, that's (slightly) better than "libtard."

Also, what's left, in terms of threats? Didn't he just threaten a nuclear attack (they'll be "one big glow over Iran" if they don't strike a deal fast)? If that threat proves empty, as it inevitably will, won't another attempt at that threat, or any lesser threat, just provoke eye-rolls / yawns?

"young people’s inescapable and crushing sense that the future is too uncertain for the lifelong commitment of parenthood. Call it the vibes theory of demographic decline." Parallels the 21st Century itself, where we've lurched from crisis-to-crisis since 01/01/00. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/07/o...

Both ends of the pendulum have benefits and drawbacks, but overall, this "beta mom" vibes seems healthier (even if we are more on the other end of the pendulum when it came to raising our own daughter) www.wsj.com/lifestyle/re...

Actually, Trump sounds more measured here, on Hantavirus, than he did on Covid-19. Maybe that's because he can't run for re-election this time?

I used to watch this, over and over again, in horror. share.newsbreak.com/id6cx0xk

*Blew* past expectations! Well, good! Maybe it's a reflection of ingrained attitudes that Republicans and Trump, in particular, are "good for business." Now, imagine how well we'd be doing if Trump hadn't repeatedly shot the economy in the foot (tariffs; Iran War). www.wsj.com/economy/jobs...

If economists are happy, I'm happy, but 115,000 jobs added doesn't seem like a very robust employment market to me (I remember #JobsReport in the Obama era regularly topping 200,000 jobs added). www.nytimes.com/live/2026/05...

Yes, yes, I know, Groundhog Day, but even Iran says a deal is close. Is that not a big story / topic of discussion on Bluesky? Haven't seen much about it since the NYT story earlier today

Thank goodness! End this now. www.nytimes.com/live/2026/05...

Big day—the NYT published an opinion piece arguing that moving to the center might not work www.nytimes.com/2026/05/05/o...

No change in Iran's nuclear capacity. No regime change; indeed, even more hardline leaders are now in charge. A mess in the Strait of Hormuz that didn't exist before this war. All we've done is "mow the lawn," but that shouldn't have been a big US goal anyway. Tactical success; strategic failure.

If this is true, what is the purpose of this Iran War? What have we truly achieved, in terms of advancing USA interests? share.newsbreak.com/ice792qk

Still confused about the state of affairs with the Iran War. Is it over? Is this new mission something else entirely? Is the cessation of that mission, after a day, evidence of its success or failure, or of imminent resumption of fighting or imminent peace? www.nytimes.com/live/2026/05...

Idk if AI is *actually* advanced enough to eliminate swaths of white-collar jobs, but the idea that it is will likely be enough for employers to lay-off *many* workers (or refrain from hiring). AI isn't a good idea, except that, if we don't lead in the area, others will, maybe to our detriment.

After reading some reviews, I feel even more confident that there are reasons to compare this to Repo Man! The loopy, surreal subplots that are either here and gone or here and unresolved. The manic energy under the film. The indie vibe. I ❤️ this movie ( #TheSecretAgent #film #movie #cinema ) !

After reading some reviews, I feel even more reviews that there are reasons to compare this to Repo Man! The loopy, surreal subplots that are either here and gone or here and ... unresolved. The manic energy under the film. The indie vibe. I ❤️ this movie ( #TheSecretAgent #film #movie #cinema ) !

I haven't been keeping up. So, Democrats' chances of winning the midterms and taking over one or both houses of Congress are now basically dead and buried?

The host asks *if* the Iraq War ends tomorrow. What makes the end of a war? I mean, we have a ceasefire now, Iran seems happy enough with its veto power over the Strait of Hormuz. Maybe Trump just declares victory and its over? Like, now, with a new status quo? share.newsbreak.com/ib9f3lrw