Curt

Note that in gun-loving Texas, more than 44% voted for someone other than Trump in 2024. I get your point, though.

I do not condone violence outside of self-defense. That said, Charlie Kirk was an evil human who should not be “honored” for his “work”. Maybe he was a great dad, and if so he should be honored for that. But not for his pathetic, bigoted views about race and trans people. He was an awful person.

Opinion | The Death of the Fourth American Republic

We built a good thing, America. Unfortunately, it’s almost gone.

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/06/o...

The best of NASA is leaving for the ESA and other agencies in other countries. We will never get them back. And we can’t make new ones, because the administration is destroying our best universities.

Opinion | Columbia’s Administrators Are Fooling Themselves

Spot on. Columbia's administrators are fools. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/o...

Opinion | Why American Jews No Longer Understand One Another

I'd love to hear some (worldwide) Jewish opinions on this (it's complicated, i know, so maybe in person rather than on a short-form platform like this): www.nytimes.com/2025/07/20/o...

July 2025 To: The Executive Office of the President 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, D.C., USA Subject: Your Most Recent Tariff Missive(s) Dear White House Strategists, Sitting on eggs continuously for 54 days in minus 20 degrees is, frankly, easier than trying to make sense of your current tariff strategy. We've checked our calendars thrice-are we on Day 90 or 105 of this economic stand-off? We'd request clarification, but we're reasonably sure you'd sanction that too. We're loathe to admit it, but on this matter we find ourselves in rare agreement with Brazil's President Lula: the world does not, in fact, require an emperor. Least of all one perched precariously atop a melting economy, dictating terms to islands most Americans couldn't point to on a globe even if bribed with krill. Before these tariffs, our contact with humanity was limited to the occasional sunburnt glaciologist and a few UN observers who came mostly for the penguin chorus. Now, thanks to your trade aggression, we've acquired: - Three fully operational F/A-18 Hornets (painted in icy matte, thank you for asking), - The enthusiastic backing of several thousand confused yet passionate humans, - A Press Secretary with a debilitating anxiety disorder (Miss Penguline Levity, whom we advise you not to email directly), - And a waitlist of 47,000 immigration requests, 312 of which are from your own diplomatic staff. This escalation has turned our quiet, flightless republic into an accidental geopolitical flashpoint. We are, as you might imagine, irritated. Not furious-just frostily disappointed. Let us be clear: Heard Island has no intention of becoming a player in your drama. We are content to govern our guano-covered rocks with dignity, sovereignty, and minimal Wi-Fi. If this is difficult for you to accept, we recommend a long walk on thin ice.

Response sent to the White House. Summary: The planet doesn’t need an emperor dictating trade. Mainland Antarctica already has millions of Emperors, and even their droppings do more good than the White House’s globally destabilizing policies.

In other words, go take a long hike on thin ice.

I have nothing to celebrate today. Certainly not this country.

Thank you. Also, all is lost.

1,301 days left.

My neighbors down the block have a Trump flag flying. They also have a Latino yard crew mow their lawn every week. Can they not imagine how those men feel right now? Half of America has no compassion at all.

In my view, if Schumer doesn’t lose power in the Democratic Party, the party has little chance of any success in the coming years. The future of the party is in shifting farther left, not closer to the middle.

It’s beyond baffling to me that people think the NBA championship was a “big deal”. The fucking world is burning, people. Our country has become a fascist playground. There are real things to focus on. Sports, even billion-dollar sports, are GAMES.

Subscribed! Thank you for doing what you do.

After watching The Keepers on Netflix recently, I could not care less about the pope nonsense. There is zero chance the old white guy will do anything to hold other Catholic men accountable for sexual abuse.

As Trump Targets Researchers, Europe Makes a Pitch to Attract Scientists (Gift Article) The continent’s leaders are hoping to benefit as the Trump administration cuts support for research and threatens universities such as Harvard and Columbia with the freezing of federal funds.

Making America great again: www.nytimes.com/2025/05/05/w...

Cover of Economist magazine, showing injured bald eagle.

Where’s the IV? The ventilator? This eagle looks entirely too healthy.

The America I loved is gone It was a nation of dreams, built for the screen. Then it shattered

"The American elites of the past 20 years have called their foremost principle freedom, but what they meant was impunity. That’s what the original slave masters built: a world where they could do whatever they wanted to whomever they wanted, without consequences." www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

April 18, 2025 Tonight I had the extraordinary privilege of speaking at the anniversary of the lighting of the lanterns in Boston’s Old North Church, which happened 250 years ago tonight.

“And once in a great while, someone will light a lantern—or even two—that will shine forth for democratic principles that are under siege, and set the world ablaze.”
open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

This is exactly how I feel, because my parents told me this was the way as I was growing up. When I talk to Republican voters, though, they often have a different view. Like “I work hard for my money, so why should lazy people get it”. Ultimately, I think it’s just selfishness and justification.

‘Bureaucratic cruelty’: 9/11 responders and survivors shaken by US health cuts World Trade Center healthcare program for people affected by attacks is in turmoil over Trump officials’ overhaul

A program that provides free healthcare to first responders and survivors of the World Trade Center terror attacks has been in turmoil for months, with services cut, restored and cut again as part of the Trump administration’s “restructuring”...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Serious science jobs, especially work on climate change, are already refocusing on other countries. Some of the best people in their fields are leaving. I don’t see how America recovers from this talent loss within generations.

Trump is pushing the world towards recession. By learning the lessons of 2008, we can still prevent it | Gordon Brown In the first of a two-part series, the former prime minister outlines a global response to Donald Trump’s tariffs

The rest of the world now sees the United States as the problem. They will find solutions, and the US will be left behind. The world, and especially the US, will never be the same. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

… “a world in which the US gives people finance and gets back inexpensive goods strikes me as good for the US. We give them entries in computer databases, they give us back food and clothing: That is a magical deal for us!” -Matt Levine, Money Stuff newsletter, on why trade deficits are good things.

Republican senator claims video floating killing of journalists was a ‘joke’ Oklahoma’s Markwayne Mullin downplays comments suggesting lawmakers could shoot journalists over disputes

So proud (not) to be an Oklahoman. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Booker is my hero today.

John Roberts created a monster. It's about to eat him. The Supreme Court faces an existential dilemma of its own creation.

New in PN: John Roberts created a monster. It's about to eat him.

"After all, how can the rightwing justices expect a future president — particularly a Democratic one — to accept rulings limiting the exercise of their power from a Court that served as the judicial stooge of an aspiring dictator?"

Trans joy is power.
Trans resistance is power.
Trans community is power.
Together in defiance, we have the power to fight for the future we deserve.

📸 Jordana Bermudez

I hear what you're saying, though. And I am reading some other people's responses to the NYT piece and having second thoughts. Thanks for pushing me.