Over a week ago, in the FT, the *shipping* guys were saying "it's not just insurance. We just don't actually want our ships blown up."
Brian Finucane@bcfinucane.bsky.social · 5mo ago"U.S. officials called London insurers and brokers, trying to figure out how the market operates, industry insiders said." When applied to the current administration, I urge caution in using terms like "plans," "strategy," "policy," or "doctrine." www.wsj.com/finance/u-s-...
"From city councils to Congress, homeowners have always dominated elected office. But after Mamdani’s victory, a slew of renter candidates want to follow in his footsteps." Excellent @monicapotts.bsky.social piece. newrepublic.com/article/2076...
Zohran Mamdani and the Rise of the Renter Politicians
From city councils to Congress, homeowners have always dominated elected office. But after Mamdani’s victory, a slew of candidates want to follow in his footsteps.
newrepublic.com
Oh, did the most dishonest person you've ever encountered in your life betray you?
'The attack on Iran was preceded by a # of unusually large & well-timed bets that made a combined $330k & were placed by 12 suspicious accounts in the days before Saturday’s air strikes. The FT found a similar pattern related to the US capture of Nicolás Maduro in January' www.ft.com/content/2883...
Polymarket users won big with unusual bets on US attack on Iran
FT analysis identifies 12 accounts on platform that made large well-timed wagers just ahead of start of conflict
ft.com
Much more serious things happening in the world, obvi, but if you live in the DFW region, Dallas is taking a vote on March 4 to decide the future of one of the most important pieces of 20th century architecture, IM Pei's city hall building. Contact the city council and urge preservation.
Save Dallas City Hall | Dallas, TX
The future of Dallas City Hall is too important to be decided in shady back-room dealings or on numbers no one trusts. Contact your council person today! Save Dallas City Hall!
savedallascityhall.com
I really appreciate @dwallacewells.bsky.social's work, but this—green energy supplementing rather than replacing fossil fuels—seems to me the main story, not just a qualification to the story of the "green transition." GHG emissions keep rising—with 2025's projected to reach the highest level ever
(My spouse) @hermionehoby.bsky.social’s brave & searching essay on what it’s like to live with a—intermittent but cruel & mysterious—chronic illness www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
My maddening battle with chronic fatigue syndrome: ‘On my worst days, it feels almost demonic’
The long read: I suffered with my mystery illness for decades before gaining a diagnosis. Could retraining my brain be the answer?
theguardian.com
like the proletariat, the task of posting is to abolish itself
When Gavin Newsom says "the Democrats need to be more culturally normal" with "less focus on pronouns" what he's actually saying is "the trannies aren't normal and don't normalize them."
A new national survey finds 70% of Americans think the Trump administration is too focused on deportations. Immigration enforcement ranks as a top driver of defection among Trump's own 2024 voters. austinkocher.substack.com/p/new-pollin...
New Polling Data Shows Immigration Enforcement Is Costing Republicans Their Own Voters
A new national survey finds 70% of Americans think the Trump administration is too focused on deportations. Immigration enforcement ranks as a top driver of defection among Trump's own 2024 voters.
austinkocher.substack.com
'Armed settlers descended on his home and viciously beat him, his wife, his daughter and his granddaughter. When his son and a 14-year-old nephew tried to come to their aid, both were shot and wounded in the ensuing gunfire, which came from both the settlers and Israeli soldiers'
Settlers Drive a Palestinian Family Off Its Land
nytimes.com
When the govmt loves capitalism so much it refuses to let the owners of a coal plant shutter it
Syllabus writing for my upcoming @brooklyninstitute.bsky.social course on the theory and practice of dictatorship. A few spots are still available—we start on March 3! (Link below)
Anybody in or passing through northern Colorado, please think of coming to Perry Anderson's talk (with Tony Wood) here in Boulder on Thursday, February 19th. The event is free: magicmountaintalks.org/event/perry-...
Perry Anderson on World War I and the present international crisis, in conversation with Tony Wood – Magic Mountain Talks
magicmountaintalks.org
An excellent, funny, and winningly bleak and nasty short story from Daniel Lefferts, in @yalereview.bsky.social yalereview.org/article/dani...
Daniel Lefferts: “Terms and Conditions”
A short story by Daniel Lefferts: “Last summer my friend Andrew and I spent a few days in Fort Lauderdale.”
yalereview.org
A great piece of criticism, both as an appreciation and for its genial wickedness about Updike's limitations www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
James Wolcott · What you can get away with: Updike Reconsidered
Betwixt and between is a strange place for any major writer to be more than a decade and a half after their death, and...
lrb.co.uk
Sure, you were sick of reading about Pynchon a few months ago—but now don't you miss it? Me on the new one @thenation.com www.thenation.com/article/cult...
The Riotous Worlds of Thomas Pynchon
From “The Crying Lot of 49” to his latest noirs, the American novelist has always proceeded along a track strangely parallel to our own.
thenation.com
For our winter issue, Granta goes to therapy. Read the issue for free online for the next five days. granta.com/products/gra...
New short story is up at @grantamag.bsky.social and in front if the paywall for the rest of the month granta.com/whatever-cre...
Whatever Creek Meadows
‘I had slept with her back in college and several times afterward, as presumptive grown-ups, only out of some masculine obligingness which I’ve never seen described in fiction’
granta.com
new frontiers in the demand for art to directly gratify and intolerance for representation www.nytimes.com/2025/05/03/a...
Did a TV Show Hurt You? ‘Fix-Its’ Offer Justice
Beloved characters are killed. Romances, too. But a subset of fan-fiction writers are taking matters into their own hands, “fixing” perceived wrongs.
nytimes.com
