Pat Jennings

Good News: Paulina Borsook's "Cyberselish" will be reissued by Tin House books with a new introduction by....me!

I'll post the link when it's ready for pre-orders.

Never underestimate the power of a humble BlueSky thread!

photo of paulina borsook

1/ A longtime Wired editor just wrote a mush-brained essay about how he totally missed the political rot of Silicon Valley (& still doesn't get it).

But in the late 1990s, a Wired journalist warned of a toxic ideology bubbling up from tech. Paulina Borsook has largely been erased. Let's change that

FDA won’t review Moderna application for first mRNA-based flu vaccine The decision, which shocked company officials, comes as the FDA says it will take a stricter approach to federal vaccine approvals.

So the feds ARE NOT considering an mRNA vaccine for the flu, which could save countless lives, but ARE backing research into whether horse dewormer can cure cancer, because the right views vaccines as elite and ivermectin as populist.

Cool.
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

There are 2 kinds of people:
/ Those who hear foreign languages in the street and are pleased that their town is cool enough to attract people from far away who will share their cultures and learn yours.
/ Those who hear foreign languages, instantly get clammy skin, and think they’re being invaded.

Not stupid. Impunity is a big part of the project. And so far it seems to be working.

Crucially, many local governments are furious with ICE over these purchases, because they were not consulted or even told. Because they are federal property now, it's taking a commercial property off the tax rolls while likely imposing dramatic additional infrastructure costs.

An incredible turn of events here. 10/10, no notes. 😂

They are saying Kid Rock handed his Grammy to lil’ Kyle Rittenhouse during the halftime show.

(Not true. Kid Rock has never won a Grammy).

So Trump didn't watch Kid Rock

Not the Onion.

Is there a single instance in which Trump tried to bridge differences and bring Americans together? Asking because all I ever see him do is divide Americans and cash in on the hate.

Not the Onion.

It really pays to remind ourselves frequently that this whole immigration "crisis" is made up out of whole cloth. There was no emergency,danger or problem, only a demagogue stirring up racist grievances for political advantage.

It’s all one big grift

Prosecutors Began Investigating Renee Good’s Killing. Washington Told Them to Stop.

"several people familiar with the call recalled Mr. Bovino saying that he did not intend to “calm it down,” but instead, he said, “We’re going to put it down.” www.nytimes.com/2026/02/07/u...

There Is No Piecing Back Our Badly Shattered Constitutional Order We are past the point of crisis and have entered an era when our political disputes will be settled by the raw exercise of power, not the law

Once the rule of law fractures this deeply, there's no easy return. The pieces won't fit back together. Whatever replaces this crisis will be a new constitutional settlement, not a revival of what came before—a reimagining not seen since Reconstruction.

@andycraig.bsky.social

Yeah @marenmorris.bsky.social gets it

Trump is what you’d get if you distilled the worst impulses of Andrew Johnson, Woodrow Wilson, and Richard Nixon; poured them into a sausage casing; and then put a suit and tie on it.

Probably not something that should overly concern him.

Seth Harp @sethharpesq X.com Ross Douthat @DouthatNYT challenged me to a debate on foreign policy. We recorded a 90-minute segment for his show, Interesting Times, on 1/15/26. But I defeated him so decisively that he refuses to air the footage. What an absolute coward. Today 11:41 AM Hi Is the NYT still planning to publish the interview I did with Ross three weeks ago? Today 1:01 PM Hey Seth, we've been working through the edit and it's looking like we aren't going to be able to make it work. We were kind of pummeled by the news cycle in the last 6 weeks and are going to pivot away from this story. Thanks for the time you put into it and for your expertise. Unbelievable cowardice on Ross's part and a giant waste of my time. I'm going to make it known what actually happened: Ross challenged me to a debate on foreign policy, got crushed, and doesn't have the intellectual or journalistic integrity to air the footage. Delivered

Seth Harp @sethharpesq. •6h Five days after we recorded, an editor of mine asked me how it went. I told her that @DouthatNYT was surprisingly unprepared to defend his point of view, and I suspected even then that they would spike it. From To seth.harp@protonmail.com * T Jan 20 凹 了 介 → It seemed to go just fine from my perspective although it did get a little heated towards the end when we debated foreign policy. I was somewhat surprised that Ross wasn't better prepared defend his point of view. They may still decide to spike it, we'll see. SH Sent with Proton Mail secure email. ••• On Tuesday, January 20th, 2026 at 11:41 AM, wrote: That's great —how did the interview go? {7 54 • 1.3K ill 38K

Seth Harp @sethharpesq. 5h I also told an editor at Harper's, on 1/30/26, that I suspected the NYT would spike the interview rather than publish video of me dog-walking @DouthatNYT and making a mockery of his defense of US regime-change wars ... Friday 12:35 PM It's been more than 2 weeks since I was interviewed for Ross Douthat's show. I murdered him in our debate over foreign policy and was genuinely surprised that he wasn't better prepared to defend his point of view. Now I'm concerned that he will spike the episode. Do you have a sense of how far ahead they usually record? Also I really hope I get to hear this My sense was that it was about a week Suspicious 4 17 44 • 1K thl 32K 贝 企 Seth Harp @sethharpesq. •5h Ross @DouthatNYT was unprepared to take on a subject matter expert, floundered around, and became irritable and sarcastic towards the end. But spiking the episode is ten times worse for his journalistic credibility than simply losing a debate, which happens to us all.

Seth Harp @sethharpesq. 5h ... Ross @DouthatNYT's producer blames their decision to spike our foreign policy debate on the crazy news cycle. But the last three episodes they've aired have been on Roe v. Wade, Covid-19, and young men's church attendance. OPINION Interesting Latest Feb. 5, 2026 Interesting Times with Ross Douthat The first draft of our future. Mapping the new world order through interviews and conversations. Every Thursday, from New York Times Opinion. Q Search Why Ending Roe Wasn't Enough for the Pro-Life Movement Activists won the legal battle. Are they losing the culture war? By ROSS DOUTHAT Jan. 29.2026 A Plan to Restore Trust in Science From a 'Fringe Epidemiologist' Jay Bhattacharya, the N.I.H. director, says authorities broke the public's trust in the Covid era. Now it's up to outsiders to restore it. By ROSS DOUTHAT and SOPHIA ALVAREZ BOYD Jan. 22,2026 No, Young Men Are Not Returning to Church All the religious trends you're wrong about. By ROSS DOUTHAT and ANDREA BETANZOS 18 17 75 1.5K ill 38K Seth Harp @sethharpesq. 1h I'm hearing that prominent guests are cancelling scheduled appearances on @DouthatNYT's show due to his lack of journalistic integrity. Why would you spend hours, days, or weeks prepping for an interview when you know the show is rigged to ensure that you don't show up the host? 3 223 ill 4.4K 贝

👀 Apparently, Ross Douthat invited Seth Harp to debate him on Douthat's "Interesting Times" NYT podcast. Harp says that the episode was recorded, Douthat got crushed, and RD/NYT decided not to publish it.

What? x.com/sethharpesq/...

Safety net supports like the Child Tax Credit can provide security that increases economic prosperity.

For example, Mr. Bezos was worth just about $9 billion when when he claimed the CTC in 2007, and is now worth about $260 billion. Lets invest in everyone the way America invested in Bezos!

A Trump ‘Blockade’ Is Stalling Hundreds of Wind and Solar Projects Nationwide

Once again: the Trump administration isn't opposed to clean energy. They're opposed to cheap energy. Because it threatens the livelihood of their mediocre friends who can't compete against cheaper sources. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/c...

"Our criminal justice system is discriminatory and excessively punitive, with an incarceration rate five times the OECD average."

bsky.app/profile/adam...

Trump, Democrats squabble over killing civilians in cold blood.

Jeff Bezos is right. There is no need to have correspondents reporting in Europe when you can get all that information from Russia. They'll even pay YOU.

by Benny Johnson and Tim Pool

COVID effect without the COVID.
2009 crash effect without the crash.

And inevitably, there RFK's disease will eventually create a COVID effect and Trump's insanity will eventually create a 2009 type crash.

House-led National Prayer Breakfast hearing from El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, who has been destroying democratic freedoms (but is Trump ally). He recently held his own NPB in his country (jonathanlarsen.substack.com/p/before-reg...). Feting authoritarians is sadly a big part of US NPB history

Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again.
#Pinks #ProudBlue