I’m already very tired of “—maxxing.” We should be “maxxminning.” #maaxing
Victor Shammas
@victorshammas.com
Associate Professor of Sociology in Norway—with a global perspective. Research: victorshammas.com. Newsletter on politics, culture, and social theory: theorybrief.com.
Tommy Tuberville’s hope that Mayor Mamdani will be sent to Guantanamo Bay is not normal political discourse. But it is a familiar form of dehumanizing rhetoric to which Muslims and other minorities have long been subjected.
Tuberville: Mamdani will do something ‘stupid’ enough to ‘send him to Gitmo’
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) went after New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) on Thursday, saying the Big Apple’s mayor is going to do something “stupid” enough to “send him to Gitmo…
thehill.com
So now we know the price of that red card removal (and the FIFA “Peace Prize”).
Exclusive | Trump wants FIFA boss Gianni Infantino for UN secretary-general following World Cup
President Trump wants FIFA President Gianni Infantino to be the next secretary-general of the United Nations, The Post has learned.
nypost.com
"The minute you deny the legal standing of a minority and refuse to acknowledge that they exist within legal and public discourse, you nullify their legal and public existence…They fall into a kind of legal unreality…that allows for their rights to be taken away, including the right to life."
Judith Butler Explains the Gender Panic
The leading scholar and philosopher responds to critics of “gender ideology,” both from the right and left.
currentaffairs.org
Musk's SpaceX in talks to provide computing power to the Pentagon, WSJ reports reut.rs/4wcnxAM
Musk's SpaceX in talks to provide computing power to the Pentagon, WSJ reports
Elon Musk's SpaceX is in talks to provide the U.S. Department of Defense with access to data center capacity worth billions of dollars to run AI models, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
reut.rs
“It’s hard to explain to a New Yorker why their needs are not even being discussed, and yet we have billions of dollars to kill civilians halfway across the world,” said Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York on “The Interview.” Watch, read or listen to the full conversation. trib.al/3wdiLUk
"Fascism has a script…You attack the universities, you attack the journalists…You attack voting rights. And he's doing it, step by step." (Video source: @thegoodliars.bsky.social)
“For a starting fee of about $2,000, the rich and aggrieved can pay to put a journalist’s work on trial before an ‘AI jury,’ which then issues a verdict and assigns the reporter an ‘Honor Index’ score. A private, billionaire-funded tribunal that uses AI to attack journalists.” @gilduran.com
Peter Thiel Snags Top Prize from Politico’s Owner
Politico’s parent company honors the “Antichrist” lecturer — without mentioning the $50 million he gave the CEO's son
thenerdreich.com
Catastrophic meltdown awaits the Ellisons, Zuckerbergs, and Musks of the world. When will the balloon pop!? Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/17/b...
Big Tech Firms Like Oracle Turn to Bonds to Finance A.I. Data Centers (Gift Article)
Risk is rising as big tech companies like Oracle — the ultimate financial source of the Ellison media empire — need to turn to the bond market for staggering sums to finance data centers.
nytimes.com
“A guest on Malaysian soil…is publicly threatening the prime minister with capital flight unless he is granted an audience—and a memorandum of understanding. This is the Network State ideology performed in real time: power and sovereignty as a negotiation between a government and a bloc of capital.”
Balaji Srinivasan's Tech Cult Threatens Malaysia
Founder of 'tech Zionism' cult miffed after passport controversy
thenerdreich.com
"The father of a Colombian immigrant shot and killed by a federal agent in Maine on Monday described him as 'a good person raised with strong values,' who worked two jobs to support his wife and 3-year-old daughter."
Colombian Immigrant Killed by ICE in Maine Had Legal Status, Father Says (Gift Article)
The father of Joan Sebastian Guerrero, the man fatally shot by a federal immigration agent on Monday, said his son had been working two jobs to support his wife and daughter.
nytimes.com
Reflect Orbital wants to reflect sunlight onto Earth during the nighttime, brightening the night sky artificially. The Trump-aligned FCC just approved the first satellite. The company wants 50,000 of them. #SpacePolitics
FCC approves first Reflect Orbital satellite
The FCC approved a satellite to test the ability to reflect sunlight into nighttime regions, a project criticized by astronomers and environmentalists.
spacenews.com
“Mr President, your plan will fail miserably. If you think the American people will allow fascism, you are gravely mistaken. The NAACP will do everything in our power to send people to the polls and make their voices heard.” –Derrick Johnson, president of the NAACP
Trump accused of trying to ‘rig’ elections after firing federal commissioners
President’s dismemberment of Election Assistance Commission called a ‘brazen attempt’ to control elections
theguardian.com
Steven Shaviro reviews a biography "tracing the strange alchemy by which [J. G.] Ballard was able to transmute both his personal experience and the often dreadful historical events of the mid- and late-20th century into fantastic fiction."
The Estranged Worlds of J. G. Ballard | Los Angeles Review of Books
An incisive and moving new critical biography of one of the nuclear age’s greatest visionaries.
lareviewofbooks.org
The real puzzle is why so many keep backing Musk—from Tesla-driving, Starlink-surfing consumers to governments and corporations that continue doing business with him. Musk has agency, but we also need to understand the social order that has permitted his rise, despite his noxious views and actions.
Elon Musk for the Not-So-Perplexed
Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff’s “Muskism” is a much-needed critical study of the world’s first trillionaire. But Musk is no enigma—and no mere symptom either.
open.substack.com
The real puzzle is why so many keep backing Musk—from Tesla-driving, Starlink-surfing consumers to governments and corporations that continue doing business with him. Musk has agency, but we also need to understand the social order that has permitted his rise, despite his noxious views and actions.
Elon Musk for the Not-So-Perplexed
Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff’s “Muskism” is a much-needed critical study of the world’s first trillionaire. But Musk is no enigma—and no mere symptom either.
open.substack.com
Post-Orbán: “MCC Brussels…declared €6.37m in annual funding in 2024 from MCC Budapest, making it one of the best-funded thinktanks in the EU capital. … Furedi…now a leading ideologue for the new right, said that MCC Brussels would need alternative funding from September.”
‘Attack on civil society’: why Viktor Orbán’s favourite thinktank is in crisis
MCC Brussels received lavish funding from Budapest, but Hungary’s new PM is launching an investigation
theguardian.com
Trump called Infantino on Wednesday. Result: "The first time since 1962 that FIFA has nullified a suspension for a red card received during the World Cup."
Trump Asked FIFA to Review U.S. Player’s Suspension. Now He’s Eligible to Play.
nytimes.com
Musk’s amplification of the movie “Citizen Vigilante” legitimizes violence against immigrants.
Elon Musk promotes ‘anti-migrant’ Armie Hammer film with free download on X
Citizen Vigilante, which follows a businessman taking bloody revenge on immigrant criminals, was posted by the tech trillionaire in the wake of damning reviews
theguardian.com
Trump says he thinks Elon Musk will donate SpaceX stock to the Trump accounts initiative
Trump Thinks Musk Will Donate SpaceX Stock to Trump Accounts
President Donald Trump said he thinks Elon Musk will donate SpaceX stock to the Trump accounts initiative, following other technology executives who have embraced the new investment vehicles for children.
bloom.bg
"Nigel Farage and his partner have built a mortgage-free property empire worth more than £4 million in the last decade…Land Registry records show that all but one were purchased with cash since 2020."
Everything we know about Nigel Farage's £4 million property empire
MPs and independent experts have raised concerns about the transparency of Mr Farage’s arrangements, with only two of his properties registered
standard.co.uk
“Hungary’s government has begun dismantling controversial public-interest asset management foundations created under Viktor Orbán’s previous administration, taking direct state control of dozens of institutions.”
Hungary starts taking back control of Orbán-era foundations | Euractiv
The overhaul has left thousands awaiting clarity over their future
euractiv.com
Right-wing lawlessness: "President Donald Trump said on Sunday that work will begin Sept. 1 on the public East Potomac Golf Course despite a federal judge's warning of "serious consequences" if the administration begins major work without getting approval and notifying the court in advance."
Trump says work will begin on DC golf course despite judge's warning
President Donald Trump said work will begin Sept. 1 on the public East Potomac Golf Course despite a federal judge's warning.
abcnews.com
Far-right Sweden Democrats say there are “too many mosques” in Sweden. If this were said about any other religion, people would rightly be calling for a cordon sanitaire. But Islamophobia now passes with barely a notice—part of an attempted normalization of far-right extremism in the Nordics.
SD-topp: ”För många” moskéer i Sverige
Charlie Weimers står bakom en ny sajt som listar moskéer. Väljare måste få information om ”islamiseringen”, säger han. – Hela områden i Sverige lyder i praktiken under en slags ortodox variant av isla...
expressen.se
“Trump ‘started repeating himself’ after 15 minutes, Luce said. ‘I contrived to end the call, which I never expected. I said, “Mr. President, I know you're really busy.”’ Luce said Trump started to ask him questions about the Iran war, like, ‘Should I take the oil? Should I take Kharg Island?’”
Columnist recounts trying to hang up on Trump during 'very strange' phone call
A British columnist's phone call with Trump was so "strange" that he began looking for a way to end it.Financial Times columnist Ed Luce recounted the interaction during an episode of The Mona Charen ...
rawstory.com
"California voters will get to decide in November whether billionaires should pay a one-time 5% tax, after a deadline passed on Thursday for its backers to withdraw the measure."
California billionaire tax will appear on ballot after deadline for deal passes
Proposal to introduce one-time tax of 5% will go to voters in November after backers decline to withdraw measure
theguardian.com
When the Pentagon announced a $620M loan last year to a startup linked to Donald Trump Jr., defense officials and the company tried to tamp down suspicions of cronyism. We found that the request came from White House adviser Peter Navarro. (Published May)
The White House Intervened to Get a $620 Million Deal for a Company Tied to Donald Trump Jr.
About three months before the Pentagon announced plans to lend money to Vulcan Elements, Trump Jr.’s venture capital firm took an undisclosed stake in the company.
propublica.org
“Loitering is not permitted in this area. Please proceed to a designated location. Thank you for your cooperation,” a surveillance machine tells a small cluster of National Guard members as they patrol the fenced off Reflecting Pool in the rain.
“‘For Jordan Bardella to dare to quote Marc Bloch is an outrage to all the victims of France’s collaboration with the Nazis,’ wrote professors Joëlle Alazard and Annette Becker in Le Monde.”
A Jewish hero’s elevation to the French Panthéon uncorks simmering divisions over who wears the mantle of resistance - Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Marc Bloch’s family called for leaders of the far-right National Rally to be banished from the ceremony.
jta.org