Saturday, July 11, 2026
The Graham Platner Affair
A post mortem of the successful effort to end Graham Platner’s Senate bid and any future in politics.
How Stories Change the Human Brain, Empathy, Memory, and Behavior
Yves here. Stories are integral to decision-making. Prosecutors and criminal defense attorneys know well that juries reach their verdicts not on weighing evidence but on constructing the story that seems to them to fit the evidence best and then see what that means in terms of a ruling. It’s thus disconcerting to see how tech […]
Coffee Break: More on American Science, Thomas Jefferson and AI, and Natural History for the Ages
Part the First: Beware of Resting on the Shoulders of Atlas. Dr. Scott Atlas is a radiologist who is now ensconced in the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace at Stanford (naturally, and in the tower, no less). One can only surmise from the general run of their work product that (true) Revolution and […]
Cloudflare Threatens to Cut Google Off From Their Publishers in Searches Due to AI Scraping
AI is destroying what is left of search, as Cloudflare plus big publishers implement the nuclear option of cutting off Google indexing.
Iran War: Conflicting Reports on Momentary Pause – Restart of Talks or Iran Readying Big Strike? Russia Diesel Export Halt and Qatar LNG Pullback Increase Energy Pressure
Today’s Iran war news: Information fog is thick –yet more peace deal happy talk as underlying disputes fester and energy stresses worsen.
Europe’s Gathering Backlash Against Palantir Hits NATO Resistance
The AI systems managed by Palantir are becoming even more embedded in the collective West’s war-waging.
AI Investment Mania Has Begun to Percolate Through the Economy, and the Fed Has Begun to Fret About the Effects
AI dominated the Fed’s meeting as a driver of “persistent inflationary pressures” and demand growth.
How Winning Became the Shared Ethos of the US Oligarchy
Winning seems to be all that matters to Donald Trump, because it is the only thing left to legitimize America’s oligarchic rule.
How Unions Pave the Way to the American Dream
Even with rising inequality and weak labor rights, unions secure enough improvements in pay and conditions to provide some class mobility.
Iran War: US and Iran Continue Escalation With New Exchange of Harsher Strikes; Iran Options Include Closing Strait of Hormuz
Today’s Iran war news: Trump doubles down on Strait of Hormuz control as experts view the strikes as preparation for a ground operation.
Greenspan Ran the Fed for 18 Years and Left an Economic Time Bomb
Michael Hudson and Radhika Desai: take a hard look at Greenspan’s misrule at the Fed and find more not to like than you might know about
Culture Is the Far Right’s Secret Weapon – and It’s Winning Over Some of Europe’s Most Educated Youth
EU officials seem aghast at the fact that many citizens, particularly the young, identify with national or local culture.
