David Hajdu

This brainwormed monster thinks that if physically compromised people die from infections in big enough numbers, the "herd" will be stronger. And Republican Senators decided it was fine to give him this country as a lab to experiment on. Hell is too good for them, but I'll accept it as a compromise.

I have spent multiple weeks working on this story. We are not dropping it. I hope you will give this a read.

JUST IN: A federal judge has blocked the cancelation of $175 million in National Endowment for the Humanities grants, mass terminated by DOGE in April. She says the effort was transparent viewpoint discrimination in violation of the First Amendment.

Very good on the perils of fetishizing "darkness", a point I often stress too (re Neutral Milk Hotel, David Berman, etc etc) -but off-base that "Needle in the Hay" in Royal Tenenbaums made Elliott famous: The "Miss Misery"/Good Will Hunting Oscar nom and performance was several years before that.

Peoria sushi shop owner faces deportation after 21 years of living in the US Kelly Yu, who does not have legal status in the U.S., is in ICE custody in Arizona, leaving her business, customers and family behind.

"Her businesses, known for donating meals to homeless shelters, supporting local police, providing funding for high school baseball teams...

“She gives back to the community, creates jobs for young people, pays taxes. Why would you want to remove someone like that?”

www.12news.com/article/news...

Becca Rothfeld is a titan — fierce but never cruel. James never confronted a writer like her.

Review | Revel in the brilliant cruelty of Henry James’s criticism “On Writers and Writing” gathers 21 pieces by the great author, including a confident critique of Dickens when James was just 22

“What can a style this capacious fail to encompass? It is an ethics, a politics, a complete way of looking at the world.”

Becca Rothfeld on Henry James's criticism:

wapo.st/46X4pwC

Perfectly said. Thank you!

It's a drop in the bucket compared with the Colbert firing, or the public broadcasting debacle. But the NYT's desire to "go beyond the traditional review" is appalling. By "the traditional review," you mean, like, an essay? Crafted with thought and care? You're sick of that? God help us.

The New York Daily News Union is still fighting this newspaper-murdering hedge fund More than three years into contract bargaining, Alden Global Capital still won't pay journalists livable wages

"Even understaffed, under-resourced and without a physical newsroom (Alden got rid of it in 2021), the Daily News routinely breaks crucial local news stories and provides the old-school in-depth local coverage the city has relied on for over a century"

@nygroove.nyc on our ongoing contract fight:

Trump today: "I'm surprised he [Jerome Powell] was appointed. I'm surprised frankly that Biden put him in."

Trump in November 2017: "It is my pleasure and my honour to announce my nomination of Jerome Powell to be the next chairman of the Federal Reserve."

I want to add that I *absolutely* think new voices are essential. But I think that can be additive and happen over time! I do not think you have to do that by abruptly ousting a bunch of people with a single blanket explanation.

Also: An audience you want to reach is not a vision.

Pam Bondi insisted there was nothing nefarious about a missing minute in allegedly 'raw' footage from a surveillance jail camera. @WIRED performed a forensic analysis of the same video clip and found it was altered on Adobe Premiere Pro - I provide receipts.

Trump to the President of Liberia: "Such good English. Where did you learn to speak so beautifully?"

English is the official language of Liberia...

From Broadway to newsrooms, CJS alumni are making big moves this summer:

🏆 Jeffrey Richards, ’71 M.S., takes home the Tony Award for Best Musical.
📡 Vahini Shori, ’25 M.S., begins coverage for Report for America.
🏥 Cindy Shan, ‘25 M.S., honored at the Health Journalism Awards.

Trump Claims Sweeping Power to Nullify Laws, Letters on TikTok Ban Show

"Attorney General Pam Bondi told tech companies that they could lawfully violate a statute barring American companies from supporting TikTok based on a sweeping claim that President Trump has the constitutional power to set aside laws, newly disclosed documents show."

I’m getting so annoyed at people’s cluelessness about the fact that interviewers are SUPPOSED TO press politicians on divisive issues—& say what their critics are saying!—in order to give them a chance to have their say! It’s not a chummy podcast or a pep rally, it’s an opportunity to reach doubters

Socialism is what they called public power.

Socialism is what they called social security. 
 
Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations.
 
Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people.

—Harry Truman, 1952

I was briefed on the intelligence last week.

Iran posed no imminent threat of attack to the United States. Iran was not close to building a deliverable nuclear weapon. The negotiations Israel scuttled with their strikes held the potential for success.

New research from MIT found that those who used ChatGPT can’t remember any of the content of their essays.

Key takeaway: the product doesn’t suffer, but the process does. And when it comes to essays, the process *is* how they learn.

arxiv.org/pdf/2506.088...

Judge rules some NIH grant cuts illegal, saying he’s never seen such discrimination in 40 years A federal judge ruled it was illegal for the Trump administration to cancel several hundred research grants, adding that the cuts raise serious questions about racial discrimination.

Judge rules some NIH grant cuts illegal, saying he’s never seen such discrimination in 40 years

Seems noteworthy to me that they're admitting that they're sending in the military because of the state government's ideology!!!

In first-of-its-kind lawsuit, Hollywood giants sue AI firm for copyright infringement Disney and Universal's 110-page lawsuit against Midjourney claims the AI player stole "countless" copyrighted works to train its software.

Disney and Universal's 110-page lawsuit against Midjourney claims the AI player stole "countless" copyrighted works to train its software.

They came masked and armed to the teeth to protect us all from the horrible problem of a few dudes outside the Home Depot looking for good honest work.

Trump: Well, we're going to have troops everywhere. 

Reporter: What’s the bar for sending in the Marines 

Trump: The bar is what I think it is.

Senator Ted Cruz posted a dramatic video of LAPD cars on fire with the caption “this… is… not… peaceful.” What he didn’t mention? The footage was from 2020, not 2025. His post on X falsely implied it was current, part of a broader effort to spread lies and manufacture a crisis.

Thanks!

Alt-text: Cover of “The Ten-Cent Plague” by David Hajdu, showing a cartoon image of a young boy in bed, sweating as he reads a comic titled “Weird.”

Expanding on the queerness of comics readers, (literal or metaphorical), Scott & Fawaz write: “The status of comics as marginal literature and art... situates comics as an outsider medium that elicits attachments from perceived social delinquents, outcasts, and minorities.” 4/12