Ross Reynolds

Hop harvesting Morrier Ranch Yakima

The 1967 satirical book, Report from Iron Mountain, became a real-world conspiracy theory. Written as a hoax, decades later, conspiracists used it as "proof" that environmentalism is a government plot. Learn more in Ghosts of Iron Mountain by Phil Tinline. HIghly recommended

Donald Trump is unpopular. Why is it so hard to stand up to him? Republicans are servile. Courts are slow. Can the Democrats rouse themselves?

Donald Trump is unpopular. Why is it so hard to stand up to him? Republicans are servile. Courts are slow. Can the Democrats rouse themselves?https://www.economist.com/leaders/2025/09/04/donald-trump-is-unpopular-why-is-it-so-hard-to-stand-up-to-him

Putin’s petrostate faces a kamikaze petrol crisis Drivers queue as Ukraine’s drones take out 20% of refining capacity

Putin’s petrostate faces a kamikaze petrol crisis
www.economist.com/europe/2025/...

What the Cracker Barrel backlash shows about Maga’s influence on US culture What likely started as a routine refresh spiraled into a political storm that went all the way to the US president

Cracker Barrell was too damn woke for Trump. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Brazil offers America a lesson in democratic maturity It is a test case for how countries recover from a populist fever

Where do we go from here? Look to Brazil www.economist.com/leaders/2025...

The Mystery of the Strong Economy Has Finally Been Solved Turns out it wasn’t actually that strong.

Gravity exerts its pull on Trumpian fake-onomics. www.theatlantic.com/economy/arch...

Laurie Anderson 1993 — Ross Reynolds Performance artist Laurie Anderson from 1993 on her first 20 years as an artist.

It's incredible that in 1993 Laurie Anderson wrote a book about her first 20 years as an artist. Enjoy this interview with transcript.
www.rossreynolds.com/rossophonic/...

Jackie Venson cookin’ at Harbor Steps Seattle

Five charts explain Trump’s cuts to foreign aid If Congress approves, the cuts would save less than Americans think—and risk countless lives

When pollsters ask (Americans) to estimate what proportion of its budget the federal government spends helping people abroad, the average answer is 26%. In reality it is about 1%, 0.25% of America’s GDP. www.economist.com/graphic-deta...

CIA historian Tim Weiner: ‘Trump has put national security in the hands of crackpots and fools’ The longtime chronicler of the spy agency on his Legacy of Ashes follow-up and what keeps him up at night

I’m not known as a great defender of the CIA but neither am I a defender of willful ignorance." #TheGuardian www.theguardian.com/books/2025/j...

AI is killing the web. Can anything save it? The rise of ChatGPT and its rivals is undermining the economic bargain of the internet

The web is killing newspapers. Now AI is killing the web. www.economist.com/business/202...

How America’s economy is dodging disaster It is astonishingly dynamic, even under the weight of tariffs

"How America’s economy is dodging disaster
It is astonishingly dynamic, even under the weight of tariffs" www.economist.com/finance-and-...

UNAids chief ‘shaken and disgusted’ by US cuts that will mean millions more deaths Winnie Byanyima tells the Guardian she considered resigning when Donald Trump cancelled Pepfar funding

“We already lost 12 million people... We now face this, more deaths. Health is a human right, no one should die if we can prevent it." www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

Opinion | Big, Beautiful Distortions Senate Republicans pass their megabill. Cue the liberal and media spin.

"Senate Republicans squeaked through Donald Trump’s megabill on Tuesday, 51-50, and cue the onslaught of misleading claims from Democratic opponents and their Beltway copywriters." www.wsj.com/opinion/big-...

It’s Bulletproof, Fire-Resistant and Stronger Than Steel. It’s Superwood. Waste wood scraps, changed at the molecular level, could become heavy-duty building materials—and even replace plastic, aluminum and carbon fiber in our vehicles and gadgets.

Superwood! www.wsj.com/tech/inventw...

Trumponomics 2.0 will erode the foundations of America’s prosperity The Big Beautiful Bill is symptomatic of a wider malaise

"It illustrates the long-term damage Mr Trump is doing to the foundations of America’s economy. " www.economist.com/leaders/2025...

The Worst Sandwich Is Back Wraps are popular again. So is a certain kind of physique.

An amusing diatribe against The Wrap. www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...

WA is the No. 1 target in the GOP’s health care slashing bill WA tried as hard as any state to round up health coverage for all. But now that Republicans are gutting health care, it turns out WA has the farthest to fall.

“I don’t understand the obsession with taking health insurance away from people, I don’t get it. What’s driving this … to take health insurance away from people knowing that it’s going to cost them … up to and including, their lives.”
www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

My interview with Bill Moyers In 1993 I had the opportunity to interview one of my heroes, journalist Bill Moyers (June 5, 1934 – June 26, 2025). In listening back I was struck by how many of the issues we talked about are still present. Moyers was the press secretary to President Lyndon Johnson, head of the Peace Corps, and a longtime CBS and public television journalist. In this wide-ranging interview, he begina by explaining why he left successful careers in network television and public TV to become an independent producer; how he got a job with Lyndon Johnson by writing a letter offering to help him get re-elected; his television report and book on mind/body medicine. A caller asks Moyer, with the proliferation of media outlets, is there a need for publicly funded media?

One of my favorites conversations.

Trump Got This One Right The president has made many poor decisions, but in striking Iran, he acted where his predecessors had failed.

Discuss. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Tourist caught-on-camera smashing crystal-studded ‘Van Gogh’ chair at art museum A tourist was caught crushing a Swarovski crystal chair at Palazzo Maffei museum in Verona, with surveillance footage showing the culprit fleeing after damaging the art.

American idiot of the week.
www.foxnews.com/world/touris...

Factory work is overrated. Here are the jobs of the future America is trapped by its industrial fantasies

Get Screwed! Trump's Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick's pitch on what a re-industrialized U.S. would look like. “The army of millions and millions of human beings screwing in little screws to make iPhones—that kind of thing is going to come to America.”
www.economist.com/finance-and-...

Who are the eight new vaccine advisers appointed by Robert F Kennedy? US health secretary announced new members for Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, after firing all 17 experts who held the post

The Guardian: Why you might not trust RFK's new vaccine advisory committee. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Far-Right Groups Buzz With Violent Talk on How to Respond to ‘No Kings’ Protest The Proud Boys and other extremists are capitalizing on Saturday’s planned demonstrations against Trump policies.

Wall Street Journal - Far Right plans to disrupt No Kings protest. “Shoot a couple, the rest will go home,” www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Far-Right Groups Buzz With Violent Talk on How to Respond to ‘No Kings’ Protest The Proud Boys and other extremists are capitalizing on Saturday’s planned demonstrations against Trump policies.

Wall Street Journal - Far Right plans to disrupt No Kings protest. “Shoot a couple, the rest will go home,” www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Trump’s Big Bill Would Be More Regressive Than Any Major Law in Decades (Gift Article) Estimates from the Congressional Budget Office, released Thursday, offer a detailed view into the effects on income groups.

“I’ve never seen anything that simultaneously really goes after poor people and then really helps rich people,” www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Don’t let our name, “Social Media Lab,” fool you—our work goes far beyond social media. We study Russia’s disinfo & AI deepfakes, build research tools, & track targeted ads on Meta's platforms. Study Community Notes on X and conduct national surveys on topical issues.
socialmedialab.ca/research/

Trump administration response to every criticism. 'I know you are, but what am I?'

OSGEMEOS: Endless Story is the first US museum survey and largest US exhibition of identical twin brothers Gustavo and Otavio Pandolfo (b. São Paulo, Brazil, 1974). Hirshorn Museum. Washington DC