This is excellent reporting by the Times (although at times it makes Musk’s actions sound heroic rather than unconstitutional, criminal, and treasonous) on how Elon Musk took over a huge chunk of the US government, which he still controls today. It began at a Republican fund...
From Rolling Stone, a list of 20 essential movies starring Gene Hackman. The French Connection, The Conversation, Superman, No Way Out, Mississippi Burning, The Royal Tenenbaums. Phew.
💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
Touch Grass is a screen time limiting app for iOS that requires photographic evidence of you actually touching grass to unblock apps on your phone. (Is there a “touch snow” option?)
💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
I loved this short thread from Andrew Miller about how his pediatrician wife helps parents who are skeptical of vaccinating their children change their minds.
So my wife is a pediatrician and works in some hospitals with high vaccine and intervention hesitation (suburban o...
The central point of Dr. Brooke Harrington’s essay about the destabilization of “basic systems we count on to make our society function” over the past month is bang on:
This promises to be a tough way for Americans to learn a critical fact too often overlooked: that one of ...
From Choose Democracy and Build the Resistance, Boycott Central is a fledgling resource about boycotts. I found this checklist of requirements for effective boycotts really interesting & useful:
a target (who is supposed to change behavior)
a demand (so the target ...
When Social Security checks stop showing up because of gov’t employee purges, millions of Americans will finally understand what’s going on. “It is no exaggeration to say this will kill people — mainly people who are elderly, disabled and/or poor.”
“Democracy Dies in Darkness” Wasn’t a Warning; It Was Our End Goal. “When it comes to choosing whether or not to resist authoritarianism, I believe Snyder meant to write, ‘Do not! Obey in advance!’”
DOGE’s Chaos Reaches Antarctica. “If the Antarctic program budget is cut, then they’ll…get to the point where they can’t even keep the station open. If the South Pole [station] is shut down, it’s basically nearly impossible to bring it back up.”
From David Wallace-Wells, a reminder that those who were considered alarmists at the beginning of the pandemic were ultimately proved right — it actually was an alarming situation.
Today, the official Covid death toll in the United States stands at 1.22 million. Excess mor...
A broad range of Americans are organizing a 24-hour economic boycott on February 28th to protest the ongoing actions of the Trump administration and to send a message to corporate America. From The People’s Union USA website, here are the details:
The boycott runs all da...
FDA cancels meeting to select flu strains for next season’s shots. “Deciding on the strains in the spring gives vaccine manufacturers enough time to produce the shots to be ready for the fall.”
The US Economic Policy Uncertainty Index is at its highest level since 2000 — higher than during 9/11, the 2007 financial crisis, and the pandemic. “It is a mystery as to why credit spreads and equities are still so well-behaved…”
The MacArthur Foundation will increase its giving over the next two years in response to Trump’s actions illegally freezing aid. “This is a major crisis for our sector and it’s a time when those of us who can do more should do more.”
The United States has fallen to a score of 65 (on a scale of 0-100) on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (calculated before Trump’s 2nd term). It’s fallen steadily since 2013 (score of 76), esp. during Trump’s 1st term.
Legendary actor Gene Hackman has died at the age of 95. Hackman, his wife Betsy Arakawa, and their dog were found dead at their home yesterday. “Foul play was not suspected.”
💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
NPR’s Embedded podcast has a three-episode series from reporter Zach Mack about a year-long effort to convince his dad that all the conspiracy theories he (his dad) believes are bogus, in an attempt to save his family.
Reporter Zach Mack thinks his dad has gone all in on...
Pedro Pascal responding to transphobia on social media: “I can’t think of anything more vile and small and pathetic than terrorizing the smallest, most vulnerable community of people who want nothing from you, except the right to exist.”
Whoa, HBO has made a third installment of Eyes on the Prize, the landmark series on the American Civil Rights Movement. The trailer is above and you can watch the six-part series on HBO or Max right now.
The first two series, which are amongst the best television ever air...
Jeff Bezos declares opinions questioning “free markets” no longer welcome at The Washington Post. “Months after insisting he would never allow his personal interests to influence the Post’s content…” LOL, the underrepresented capitalist perspective…
A long but very interesting thread about how Trump & Russell Vought have started weaponizing the OMB to illegally impound funding appropriated by Congress (like he did in 2019, leading to his first impeachment).
Plan To Be More Positive Off To Shitty Fucking Start. “Well, I’m not even three days into giving optimism a shot, and it already sucks.” 🙃🫠😭
An unvaccinated child has died in the Texas measles outbreak. And before that, no one had died of measles since 2003. “This tragic situation illustrates the importance of immunizing as many people as possible…”
For the Atlantic, Adam Serwer writes about the Great Resegregation, the attempt by the Trump administration to reverse the civil rights movement.
If the Great Resegregation proves successful, it will restore an America past where racial and ethnic minorities were the occasi...
This Is Not a Drill: How Universities Can Save DEI. “This is not just about education. It is about who gets to participate in shaping the future of this country.”
Let This Radicalize You Workbook. “This workbook is intended as an extension of the book Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care by Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba.”
On the lessons of the rise & fall of the KKK. “Fascism always fails. It is destructive and it is awful and not everyone lives to see the other side, but it always, always fails. It takes work. It takes fighting back.”
The War on Cars debuts an ad that extolls the freedom of cycling. “Who’s really more free? People beholden to traffic, gas prices, and the high cost of owning and maintaining a car or those who are able to choose another way?”
💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
Featured