Federal ‘conspiracy’ trial of 3 anti-ICE protesters succeeds in Spokane "Prosecutors argued that the defendants were part of a coordinated effort… blocking gates, doors and a driveway and encouraging others to join them, constituted criminal conduct" GIFT LINK: www.nytimes.com/2026/05/29/u...

ICE Protesters Convicted in a Case That Tested a Trump Strategy

nytimes.com

Sounds like Trump now knows he was used not just to fight a war w/ Israel against Iran, but to provoke Hezbollah & keep Iran tied down while Israel attacks, invades, occupies, and seizes land in Lebanon. Presumably, Trump also realizes he was lied to about an easy win. But perhaps I overestimate him

Yes: “Grief can function like a time machine. Life goes on.… Winter gives way to spring. One month leads to the next. But in your mind, you keep getting jerked back to these specific painful moments in the past.… On some bone-deep level [you cannot] assimilate this new reality” Patrick Radden Keefe

Much of our economy is now a racket. Had to beg for one-time-only refund of a WIRED subscription renewal (jumped from $15/yr to $70/yr) & justify it w/ personal disclosures. CondeNast ($2B profit in 2025 & 4yrs growth) now has "a strict no-refund policy" meaning they're fine w/ involuntary payments.

In case you missed it: “Unless abrupt [USAID] funding cuts…are reversed, a staggering number of avoidable deaths could occur by 2030.” Models forecast “14,051 750 (uncertainty interval 8,475990–19,662191) additional all-age deaths.” thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2825%2901186-9

Evaluating the impact of two decades of USAID interventions and projecting the effects of defunding on mortality up to 2030: a retrospective impact evaluation and forecasting analysis

USAID funding has significantly contributed to the reduction in adult and child mortality across low-income and middle-income countries over the past two decades. Our estimates show that, unless the a...

thelancet.com

Sounds like this shows antidepressants work for RFK Jr.'s relative, et al: ‘…an unnamed family member who [RFK Jr] said “was suicidal, literally every day” when she discontinued an SSRI after taking it for several years.… And I’ve heard that from hundreds, hundreds of people….” Ellen Barry NYT 5/4

Kennedy Starts a Push to Help Americans Quit Antidepressants

nytimes.com

Israel Said It’s Applying the Gaza Model in Lebanon. This Is What the Devastation Looks Like. “More than a million people have been displaced. The fighting has continued despite a U.S.-mediated cease-fire, which has now been extended through mid-May.” FREE NYT 5/3: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

How Israel Is Using the Same Tactics in Lebanon That It Did in Gaza (Gift Article)

Satellite images, photos and videos show the scope of widespread demolitions in southern Lebanon.

nytimes.com

"I'd love to be able to save an airline," the president added. "You know, I like having a lot of airlines." Note the use of 1st-person. Trump doesn't speak as a public representative or servant. He seems to believe he was elected to do whatever he wants w/ all the resources & power he can grab.

FU Amazon: In my "Past Orders," 16 blueberry Larabars = $14.42 *and* there was an UNCHECKED 20%-off coupon box. After tapping the box, the price jumped to $18.03. The coupon box should've already displayed a check mark & read "applied" This trick is new. Is this Amazon in the age of Trump 2.0?

Today in Haiti: “Haiti’s collapse has been dizzying. In January 2024, there were around 300,000 internally displaced people. By April 2026, the figure had reached 1.4 million.… The criminal alliance has managed to seize control of 85% of Port-au-Prince.” english.elpais.com/internationa...

More than six million Haitians need urgent humanitarian aid: ‘The population is at breaking point’

Marisela Silva Chau, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross delegation in Haiti, warns that the number of displaced people has reached 1.4 million and that only 30% of health centers are...

english.elpais.com

NYT GIFT LINK on the origins of the Roberts court shadow docket. This is the Sunday NYT lead story based on confidential internal Supreme Court documents on so-called shadow docket decisions — orders without vote tallies, without legal reasoning, without signatures: www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/u...

The Inside Story of Five Days That Remade the Supreme Court

nytimes.com

Reminds me of the Milgram experiments. But those subjects voiced loud objections to the white-coated Milgram. I'm not sure these OR staff even did that. Perhaps the surgeon isn't the only one who should be facing charges. Is there a lesson here for all Americans? www.nytimes.com/2026/04/14/u...

Surgeon Who Removed Wrong Organ From Patient Is Charged in His Death

nytimes.com

Trump — “I'm not scared of anything” — might order destruction or theft of Iran's enriched nuclear fuel. Either risks contamination & nuclear reaction. Or a peace agreement could entail diluting the fuel. Trump isn't considering this. GIFT link (Sanger, NYT, 3/17): www.nytimes.com/2026/03/17/u...

Trump’s Next Decision: Whether to Retrieve Iran’s Nuclear Fuel, Whatever the Risk

nytimes.com

Here's how the Trump administration & its allies in multiple state governments are “working together to do an end run around the democratic process” by dictating policy via collusive lawsuits www.nytimes.com/2026/03/12/u...

With Disputed Legal Maneuver, Trump Tries to Set Policy Without Legislation

nytimes.com

Jaw-dropping talk on precarity (esp outside USA) of life as we know it w/o reliable oil trade. The global economy & a great many national economies are now in the hands of Netanyahu, Trump, & the rulers of Iran. Meghna Chakrabarti interviews Mark Finley & Muqtedar Khan: www.wbur.org/onpoint/2026...

How big will the Iran war price shock be?

The gas pump is just the first place you’ll pay more because of the U.S.-Israel-Iran war. How might commodities, financial markets, fertilizer and food also be impacted?

wbur.org

US then Iran attack desalination plants used by civilians. RE: hits on Iran, Bahrain water: www.nytimes.com/2026/03/08/w... RE: precarity of groundwater in Iran, Nov '25): www.csis.org/analysis/sat... RE: war crimes (cynicism about this aids genocide, imho): lieber.westpoint.edu/when-red-lin...

Vital Desalination Plants in Iran and Bahrain Are Attacked

nytimes.com

Trump has already laid the groundwork to blame the Iranian people if the war does not achieve his (unrealistic) goal of regime change. See below for the transcript of the last section of his 2/27 Truth Social video, which announced the war to the American people and, apparently, to the US Congress.

Good NYT analysis by David Sanger about Trump's war on Iran & Trump's hope for Iranian regime change via air war. (But DS neglects the possibility that Netanyahu manipulated Trump w/ false hopes, that Israel may prefer a chaotic failed state in Iran.) GIFT LINK: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/28/u...

For Trump, the Iran Attack Is the Ultimate War of Choice

nytimes.com

NYT 2/6: “Across Mr. Trump’s administration, racist images and slogans have become common on govt websites and accounts, with the White House, Labor Dept and Homeland Security Dept all having promoted posts that echo white supremacist messaging.” NYT 1/27 (GIFT LINK): www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/u...

Administration Social Media Posts Echo White Supremacist Messaging

nytimes.com

Today's AI prompt: How do I remove thick gold leaf (for melting down) from a new 15' tall bronze statue clad in gold on a golf course? Gold must be removed as quickly as possible at night. Statue will not be preserved or restored, so the bronze beneath is expendable www.nytimes.com/2026/02/03/t...

‘Don Colossus,’ a Golden Statue of President Trump, Waits for Its Home

nytimes.com

Trump: “The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over,’” he said. “We should take over the voting, the voting in at least many — 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.” From interview with Trump in Dan Bongino’s podcast, released 2 Feb '26 www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/u...

Trump, in an Escalation, Calls for Republicans to ‘Nationalize’ Elections

nytimes.com

Another ICE murder in Minneapolis. Were these new recruits, who were attracted by the macho, racist ICE ads aimed at video gamers? Since courts rejected Trump's use of the Natl Guard, he has 2000 regular military troops ready to intervene in Minnesota “if needed.” www.nytimes.com/2026/01/24/u...

Videos Show Moments in Which Agents Killed a Man in Minneapolis

nytimes.com

crazy to think how i struggle to ask for any kind of help but the president of the united states asks "can i have your nobel peace prize?"

RE: grief, grieving. The words always bothered me. After the sudden, unnatural death of my extraordinary partner less than 2 yrs into our relationship, these words offend me. The problem is not my emotional state. The problem is that someone died, let down by the medical system and people around her

It's like we're living in a dark satire, a parody. It's hard to believe it's all real. NYT GIFT LINK: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/09/w...

After Machado Offers Her Nobel, Trump Says It Would Be an ‘Honor’ to Accept It

nytimes.com

A lesson learned too late: All of us sometimes lack empathy toward others — even toward those we love most. At these times, seeing oneself as a “good person” may prevent one from seeing the cruelty of one’s choices when empathy is lacking for any reason (hurt feelings, sleeplessness, meds, etc.)

In announcing his intent to pardon of the former president of Honduras who was convicted of trafficking drugs into the US — Trump proves that he doesn't care about drug trafficking or govt corruption What does he care about? He cares about Venezuela's oil GIFT LINK: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/u...

After the current ‘ceasefire’ in Gaza began on 10/10, 3 Israeli soldiers were killed in Gaza (all 3 in the first 20 days) After agreeing to cease fire on 10/10, Israeli forces have killed 339 Palestinians in Gaza. Just yesterday, airstrikes killed 24 & wounded 87 www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/11...

Israeli forces kill 24 Palestinians in Gaza; Hamas urges US to intervene

Israeli attacks target Palestinians in their cars, shelters and homes in latest violation of the US-brokered truce.

aljazeera.com

Schumer should be replaced after leading this pointless shutdown fight (initiated several months too late) then tacitly approving their capitulation It's also time for the Democratic Party to get creative: organizing mutual aid, direct action, and education events locally, with party funds & staff

$41 million-dollar book?! Did AI (or AIs) produce this bizzare Google search result? It was the 9th result returned by Google for this query: The unseen Verso second edition (I'm in the Verso book club, so I'll just buy it there. For $10/mo, all new ebooks are free, all other books are 50% off!)