davidvnewman.bsky.social

A reminder - before Trump, MAGA, Musk and Fox rewrote history - that this is what the entire country agreed had happened five years ago today:

The events of 5 years ago today mark one of the darkest days in US history.

A sitting president encouraged a coup against our government—attempting to overturn a free & fair election.

The absolute shame & criminality of that attempt will never be forgotten

No matter how hard they try to erase it.

We are a rogue state, run by a dictator, and the international community should treat us as such including all appropriate economic and diplomatic sanctions

I don't hate America, I hate kings.
#nokings

Studying philosophy does make people better thinkers, according to new research on more than 600,000 college grads Philosophers are fond of saying that their field boosts critical thinking. Two of them decided to put that claim to the test.

Turns out studying philosophy is actually valuable. Philosophy majors don’t just argue well, they actually become better thinkers and do better on tests.

Data from 600k students shows they outscore every other major on reasoning, curiosity and open-mindedness.

Why is the White House involved in sports team names at all? Or Coca Cola ingredients?

I think it's interesting that in the picture of masked ICE agents I saw most recently, they are all wearing black hats.

One question I have about the reported gift of a 747 to Trump by Qatar: will the plane be scanned for listening devices and cameras before sensitive conversations occur on board?

Jed the Fish Dead: KROQ DJ Who Pioneered New Wave Radio Was 69 (Gift Article) With his off-kilter sensibility and deep musical grounding, he brought attention to New Wave and alternative artists at the groundbreaking station KROQ.

RIP Jed the Fish. When I worked as a DJ at my college radio station, we regarded ourselves as competing with KROQ and Jed the Fish. Here's a gift link from the NYT: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/26/a...

h/t to Jay Graber and her "Mundus sine Caesaribus" t-shirt.

Mundus Sine Tyrannis (World Without Tyrants in Latin)

Immigration agents arrested a U.S. citizen and created warrants after an arrest, lawyers say in court Chicago attorneys were in federal court Thursday accusing federal agents of violating immigration law and the constitutional rights of at least 22 people since January.

ICE is detaining American citizens now. Even if they don’t deport us to Gitmo, it’s a bit inconvenient if we go out to get some apples and spend a night in jail instead.

RFK Jr. reportedly wants to conduct clinical trials of an antibiotic (clarithromycin) for treatment of measles. Since we have reason to think antibiotics don't work on viruses, I think a lab test should come first ethically speaking. To me this sounds like magical thinking in scientific disguise.

I think jobs help motivate illegal immigration and that reducing the number of companies willing to hire undocumented aliens will reduce illegal immigration. In my view, making policy only about immigrants and not about employers is a mistake if we are serious about reducing illegal immigration.

Canada has more inhabitants than California. Assuming allocations are done in the usual way, the state of Canada would have about as many congressional representatives and electoral college votes as California. If a majority of those votes went to the Democratic party, DT might not like the result.

Photo of Dan Rather with quote beside him that reads, “A few people have asked why I vehemently oppose Trump. Let me make this perfectly clear. It’s not about politics. I’ve voted for both parties. It’s about me, as a patriot, rejecting a cheating, lying, racist, treasonous, fascist, and vile man who attacks the free press, and wants to lead the country I love. It’s really that simple.”

Dan Rather is a treasure.

If the media likes political conflict because they make more money when reporting on conflict than when reporting on cooperation, then do those who make money by selling products and services to political parties like political conflict because it increases sales?

I deleted my account on X/Twitter the other day. The thing I will miss is the breaking news put out on that site by local public agencies which (so far as I know) don’t put out similar alerts on any other social media site.

I wish we could get Gandalf to go around to all the Trump voters and release them from Trump’s spell the way he releases Theoden from Saruman’s spell.