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“The Trump administration’s pick for FBI deputy director is Dan Bongino, a former U.S. Secret Service agent-turned-conservative commentator whose fiery support of President Trump has earned him a massive following — and seen him banned from YouTube for promoting misinformation.” — NPR

For years, the United States government hired people for all the wrong reasons. It filtered candidates based on integrity, experience, and diversity of perspective. The new administration is replacing this approach with a better, fairer system: hiring whoever yells the loudest.

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

The real impact of DOGE isn't going to be seen in macroeconomic variables because pretending you've made massive savings is not the same thing as actually making massive savings. But a microeconomic lens yields the more important insight… (1 of 2) pic.twitter.com/Ap7o8Wc92y — Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) February 25, 2025 Let's use that microeconomic lens and look line-by-line at what DOGE is doing. In each case, the key issue is whether the benefit exceeds the cost. And in dozens of cases Elon is creating huge costs for very little benefit. pic.twitter.com/1MXlBFwibN — Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) February 25, 2025 I thought that was a nice succinct rundown of the actual economics of Musk’s trainwreck. Unsurprisingly, they will not end up benefiting Americans in either the short or the long term. He didn’t even mention the cutting off of scientific and medical research funds which will actively cause suffering and death. And I won’t be surprised to see them get rid of any kind of credible data collection and analysis by the government, including the economic data the markets rely upon, which means the world will end up flying blind.

Michelle Goldberg on the appointment of the internet troll Dan Bongino to be the second in command of the FBI. Oh boy: In writing about our country’s rapid self-immolation, I try to ration Hannah Arendt references, lest every column be about the ways “The Origins of Totalitarianism,” published in 1951, foreshadows the waking nightmare that is this government. But contemplating Bongino’s ascension, it’s hard to avoid the famous Arendt quote, “Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty.” Trump could have found a smoother and more sophisticated ideologue to help him transform the F.B.I. into a tool of his will, perhaps someone from the Claremont Institute ready to put an erudite spin on authoritarianism. He wanted the jacked-up hothead. This administration professes a devotion to merit-based hiring, blaming diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives for fostering mediocrity.

The German elections show we don’t need to moderate fascism, we need to oppose it.

The post Grow a Spine: Democrats Have a Lot to Learn From the German Left appeared first on The Intercept.

Today’s newsletter by Dan Pfeiffer on how to make the GOP pay for this insanity: I have seen this movie before, beat for beat. In August of 2010, in the middle of the effort to pass the Affordable Care Act, Congress went home for a month-long recess. At every townhall and interaction with their constituents, they were bombarded with complaints from voters angry about the pending health care bill. Democrats were shaken. The process slowed as the party brainstormed a response to this backlash. More importantly, a media narrative was born. The Affordable Care Act became polarizing — something to fear. Previously, most Americans paid little attention to the arcane efforts towards health care reform. They learned about it from news coverage of people angrily screaming about the dangers of the bill. We’ve since learned that much of that energy was “astro-turfed” by Republican groups funded by Right Wing billionaires like the Kochs and the Tea Party Movement. It was as much about the election of a Black president as it was the size and scope of government. The angry townhalls are back.

The Australian media’s favoured future Prime Minister, Peter Dutton, has moved to assure voters of his economic credentials by promising to tame the budget with a bit of creative accounting and a stock tip that he got from a guy... Read More ›

A group of ants beats a group of humans at problem solving

The post The Collective Power of Ants appeared first on Nautilus.

I had no idea how much people loathed the elderly until recently when I saw a lot of comments like that during the pandemic. Even now, you’ll hear echoes of it when people point out that at least a third of Medicaid spending is for people in nursing homes. (I won’t even mention the way even decent, liberal minded people casually and crudely insult old people in regular conversation.) Let’s just say there isn’t much respect, much less simple human empathy, for people over 65 in America. I hope every American will be lucky enough to be a billionaire when they get old, (or are lucky enough to die young) because being dependent on people like Donald Trump and Elon Musk to uphold programs you depend on is no way to live. And I’m not honestly not sure anymore that a majority of this country would object all that strenuously to ending them.

Well, look who just spotted me and isn’t happy about it. You’ve got the same look as you did when that server told you to enjoy your tortellini, and you said, “You too.”

I think you’re familiar with my work: I’m the typo in your novel that just went to print, the wrong use of “you’re” in that viral social media post, or the “beast wishes,” in that email you just sent to your boss.

For years, I’ve had this thankless job, but I think it’s about time I made an appearance in your nightly gratitude journal.

Why, you ask? Because now that that clown ChatGPT is feeding a constant stream of slop to the internet, maybe you can appreciate what I’ve always known—that grammatically perfect writing that is devoid of voice sucks ass.

And since people are looking for ways to tell whether writing was done by a human or not, do you know what one of those signs might be? That’s right; it’s a typo like me.

Oh, you’ve been resistant to the idea for years. You thought that if you made a typo in your grant proposal or cover letter, it would reflect poorly on your writing skills.

How the Texas senator’s latest money-in-politics scheme could increase the price of cars.

China has the lead in about 80% of tech fields:

"Ruh roh", to quote Scooby Doo, on how Americans view the economy. -Just 20% view it as excellent or good. Worse than at any pt during Trump's 1st term. -"Yikes": 59% say the economy is getting worse… Worse than at any pre-covid pt during Trump's 1st term. Danger territory. pic.twitter.com/MF38TDpAm8 — (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) February 24, 2025 I don’t know exactly why people are saying this but it may validate my hypothesis that the “bad economy” vibe is actually a proxy for simple bad vibes. In other words when the country feels unstable people attribute it to a bad economy, even when their own finances are pretty good. People are right to be nervous about the economy right now. Inflation is up and Trump’s tariffs and mass layoffs of federal workers/contractors are looming threats. But these results suggest something more I think. And I think it’s the same thing that doomed Harris in November: bad vibes about the rise of chaos, instability and violence in our political culture. And some of the people voted for Trump because of them simply didn’t understand where those bad vibes were actually coming from.

The Palantir CEO claims to defend Western values—but his real mission is shielding Israel from scrutiny. As he cozies up to Elon Musk and right-wing nationalists, he’s pushing for mass censorship in service of the war machine.

The post Palantir CEO Alex Karp Teams Up With the Alt-Right to Censor Israel’s Critics appeared first on MintPress News.

What did you do to fight fascism, Nana? No one is coming to save you. Certainly not Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.). The House minority leader appeared Monday night on Rachel Maddow’s MSNBC show. Maddow noted that people are desperate for Democrats to “fight harder, to not be nice, to break protocol,” get arrested even. To lead the resistance. She tried but couldn’t draw a flicker of passion from the technocratic Jeffries. Quizzed on what Democrats are doing to fight the Musk-Trump cabal, Jeffries presented as if guest-hosting “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” “It’s all hands on deck in the Congress. It’s all hands on deck in the courts. And it’s certainly all hands on deck in communities across the country,” Jeffries, 54, insisted in a tone that was anything but insistent. Like many older Democrats in his caucus who learned their politics decades ago (and stopped learning), Jeffries brings the wrong skill set to the job of fighting Musk-Trump’s efforts to cut up the republic like a stolen car in a chop-shop. The growing resistance is very grassroots, Maddow observed, very organic and bottom-up.

The Trump administration may claim Title 42 aims to stop the spread of tuberculosis. But it’s truly a ploy to stop asylum-seekers.

The post Title 42 Isn’t About Public Health — It’s About Keeping Immigrants Out appeared first on The Intercept.

A conversation with Nautilus cover artist Katherine Streeter.

The post Breathing New Life into Found Objects appeared first on Nautilus.

From Microsoft and Google to Oracle and OpenAI, American companies are fueling the rise of autonomous warfare—technology that’s already being tested on Palestinians and could soon be turned against Americans.

The post US Tech Companies Aid Israel’s War Crimes—You Could Be Their Next Victim appeared first on MintPress News.

Today, racism remains a poisonous force in America. Fascism and authoritarianism are on the rise and President Donald Trump is giving voice to such hate, making it state policy and central to his presidential agenda. Recently, he tried to ban birthright citizenship by executive order to limit the number of babies of color born in the United States, though such an act is clearly unconstitutional. Currently, at least two federal judges have blocked Trump’s executive orders to redefine birthright citizenship. He has also issued executive orders seeking to roll back diversity, equity, and inclusion. He clearly does not want Black, Brown, and Asian people to be on an equal footing with Whites. All his most recent efforts are consistent with... Read more

Source: Surviving Hard Times appeared first on TomDispatch.com.

David Tennant may have left Doctor Who (for now), but he's keeping himself grounded in sci-fi, playing an AI in the Audible audio drama Him.