The Weird Times
Inner Monologues and Desultory Reporting from Outer Spaces: Issue 269, July 6, 2025 (V6 #9)
The greatest menace to freedom is an inert people.— Louis Brandeis
This is your democracy. Make it. Protect it. Pass it on.—Thurgood Marshall
You will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make a good use of it.—John Adams
Books, Music, Art, Culture
What Happens After A.I. Destroys College Writing? The demise of the English paper will end a long intellectual tradition, but it’s also an opportunity to reëxamine the purpose of higher education, Hua Hsu, New Yorker, 6/30/25: “None of the students I spoke with seemed lazy or passive….They were radically resourceful.”
Feds Watching: state censorship and New Orleans rapper B.G.’s album ‘Freedom of Speech,’ Jack Lubin, LA Rev of Books, 7/1/25: “To serve either a paroled or probated sentence is to live life with the threat of incarceration hanging over one’s head; supervised individuals are, in effect, asked to repeatedly prove to the authorities, who are given complete power over them, that they are worthy of freedom.”
This life after the sentence, this life after the trenches
They locked up all my henchmen, that′s that shit I cannot mention
The Colorful History of Tarot Is as Mesmerizing as the Decks Themselves: The original meaning behind the cards, first created 500 years ago, still remains elusive. But that didn’t stop our reporter from traveling to Milan in an effort to find out, John Last, Smithsonian, Jul/Aug issue
The Benevolent Sorcery of Play: Friendly, Uplifting Shocks Every Day, Rob Brezsny, Astrology Newsletter, 7/1/25: “To walk the sacred tightrope of Holy Play is to laugh while fumbling, to detour flamboyantly and call it research, to be both wisdom-seeker and prankster in the same plot twist.”
Small Press, Big Machines, and the Last Run of Canada’s Most Stubborn Publisher: From its shop in Nova Scotia, Gaspereau defied the industry for three decades, Thea Lim, The Walrus, 6/27/25: “I’m bringing every bit of my being to being a participant in this cultural activity, of giving things the robustness to see their way through time….Why wouldn’t you want to be engaged in your own life?”
‘The damage is terrifying’: Barbara Kingsolver on Trump, rural America and the recovery home funded by her hit novel: Demon Copperhead, the author’s retelling of Dickens during Virginia’s opioid crisis, was a global success. Now she has used royalties from the novel to open a recovery residence, Hannah Marriott, The Guardian, 7/5/25
Vision of the Womb and Vision of the Brain: H.D. on the Two Kinds of Seeing and the Key to Over-mind Consciousness, Maria Popova, Marginalian, 7/2/25: “The brain and the womb are both centers of consciousness, equally important.”
The Complicated Feminist Legacy of Underground Comix, Christina Lee, Comics Journal, 7/2/25: “Free from expensive overhead and the Comics Code Authority, women carved out a pivotal role for themselves by shaping narratives grounded in their own lived experiences.”
Reports of Gen Z’s Lameness Are Greatly Exaggerated: A recent college graduate dispels generational myths, Arden Yum, Persuasion, 7/3/25: “I think our generation possesses hope not out of naivety, but because we have to trust in the possibility of a just future in order to unearth it.”
CBS becomes a quisling of journalism: The network folds to Trump, joining other outlets betraying the free press, Mark Jacob, Stop the Presses, 7/2/25
Remembering Bill Moyers, Josh Marshall, Talking Points Memo, 7/1/25: “…Bill’s ability to bring fascinating, human issues to life in ways that are both sophisticated and accessible to a mass audience.”
Teaching Poetry in the Prisons: Inside the mind and heart of the lockhouse, Susan Kelly-DeWitt, Portside, 7/4/25
here he is twenty
years later, life
without parole--
shaking my hand,
smiling at me,
thanking me
for helping him learn
one new word.
—Susan Kelly-DeWitt
Politics, Economics, Technology
James Carville Is Right to Panic — Because Trump’s Next Power Grab Doesn’t Need a Mob: Forget Jan 6th. Trump’s next move is smarter, and far more dangerous: use the courts, AI & right-wing militias to erase millions of Americans from the vote — legally. It’s not a theory. It’s a plan, Thom Hartmann, Hartmann Report, 7/4/25: “Martial law may not arrive with tanks. It may come in the form of a national emergency declaration, a manufactured riot, or the pretense of mass fraud. Trump doesn’t have to cancel the election; he just has to delegitimize it enough to override it…. Now it’s up to us to stop it. Pass it along.”
The Rev William Barber’s ‘moral movement’ confronts Trump’s America. Can it work? In weekly nonviolent protests that channel the civil rights tradition, the faithful rally to end poverty and injustice, Adam Harris, The Guardian, 7/5/25: ‘Silence is not an option’
I Question America, Sherilyn Ifill, Newsletter, 7/4/25: “Is it even possible to set our country on a course for redemption? How can we come to terms with the fact that half our fellow citizens embrace cruelty, racism, ignorance, and cultism over democracy? How will we navigate the violence and cruelty of these times and protect ourselves, our families, and our integrity?”
How to take our country back: The America you grew up in is under attack from technologies that we ourselves invented, Noah Smith, Noahpinion, 7/6/25: “There is a growing body of careful research establishing causal links between social media and political polarization and extremism…. Social media platforms are our true enemy, and so we must use the real world as a platform for our counterattack…. But time grows short; in another decade or two, whole generations may have forgotten the goodness of the old world. We must act quickly.”
Trump’s Big Beautiful Debt Bomb: The budget bill is both devastatingly cruel and deeply irresponsible, Paul Krugman, Newsletter, 7/3/25: “…the way Congress was bullied into passing that bill and the lies used to sell it show that we are no longer a serious country run by serious people…. the risk of a U.S. debt crisis is vastly higher now than it was when Republicans were yelling about Obama’s deficits.”
I Dreamed About the Breakup of the United States, Deanne Stillman, Journal of the Plague Years, 7/4/25: “… that glorious network that connects all of us, or used to, in a way that no longer seems to exist, except in our imagination, and our dreams.”
Peter Thiel’s Palantir poses a grave threat to Americans: Working with the Trump administration, the data company could be used to target the president’s opponents, Robert Reich, The Guardian, 6/30/25
Denaturalization is a Stark Threat to All Citizenship, Josh Marshall, Talking Points Memo, 7/2/25: “…once you decide you want to denaturalize someone you can probably find some technical flaw in the naturalization process or some trivial omission to make it possible.”
NYT Runs Hit Piece on Mamdani Based on Tip From Proponent of 'Race Science:’ Reports from multiple outlets show the Times is vastly underselling its source's extreme views on race, Brad Reed, Common Dreams, 7/4/25
Trump’s Rejection of America’s Founding Principles, Steve Pincus, Project Syndicate, 7/4/25: “Without free trade, free immigration, and internationalism, America resembles what its founders rebelled against.”
This is exactly what Project 2025 proposed: Analysts called it ‘extreme’ and ‘unlikely.’ Now, it's almost reality, Emily Atkin, Heated, 7/1/25: “what’s rational is not a reliable predictor of the future. We’d all be wise to remember it moving forward.”
Calls to GI Hotlines Rise as Service Members Consider Defying Trump’s Orders: Conscientious objector applications surge under Trump as military members fear becoming “the saber that he’s rattling,” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Truthout, 7/4/25
The truth about the filibuster, Judd Legum, Rebecca Crosby, Noel Sims, Popular Information, 7/1/25: “The legislative filibuster…only exists when it is convenient for Senate Republicans. Whenever the filibuster threatens to impede a Republican priority, it is ignored.”
A corrupted Supreme Court sinks to new lows: The Trumpist majority closed the term with a ruling that could rip the nation apart, Lisa Needham, Public Notice, 7/1/25: “This is not a functioning judiciary. It’s unsustainable to have the nation’s highest court routinely undermine the lower courts in the service of Trump’s agenda.”
Why some fear government data on the U.S. economy is losing integrity: Budget strains, survey gaps and political pressure fuel uncertainty over key measures of inflation, jobs and growth, Andrew Ackerman, Washington Post, 7/3/25 (No paywall)
The U.S. Attack on Iran Was Unconstitutional, Michael J. Glennon, Just Security, 7/1/25: “…it’s perilous to adopt an interpretive approach that would in effect transfer Congress’s war power in toto to the President.”
Trump Claims Sweeping Power to Nullify Laws, Letters on TikTok Ban Show: In purporting to license otherwise illegal conduct by tech firms, President Trump set a precedent expanding executive power, legal experts warned, Charlie Savage, NY Times, 7/3/25
Judges are finding workarounds to Trump’s big Supreme Court win: The immediate impact of the high court's ruling — particularly in the innumerable challenges to Trump’s effort to reshape the federal government — may be limited, Kyle Cheney, Hassan Ali Kanu, Politico, 7/3/25
Judge Luttig Scorches Justice Roberts and Trump in Exclusive Interview: Conservative legal icon denounces Trump and breaks his silence on his 'disappointment' with his friend, Justice John Roberts, in an exclusive interview, Legas AF, Meidas, 7/4/25
The Self-Evident Truths of Freedom—and of Tyranny: Twenty-seven truths about America, our Democracy and Rule of Law, and our rights, freedoms, and liberties, Judge J. Michael Luttig, Telos, 7/2/25: “In America, the rule of law is king.”
Some Thoughts on Techno-Fascism From Socialism 2025: “This is the endgame of our isolation,” Kelly Hayes, Organizing my Thoughts, 7/4/25: “We are talking about a business plan that amounts to the near completion of capitalist alienation. Rather than simply robbing us of our time, eliminating third spaces, and turning us into competitors who fear each other more often than we relate to one another, Big Tech now seeks to root out even the aspiration for human connection, offering enshittified convenience food for the soul in its place.”
The Revolution Will Be Cognitive: This 4th of July, it’s not about fireworks — it’s about defending your mind from manipulation, coercion, and control, Caroline Orr Bueno, Weaponized, 7/4/25: “… the most common way people lose their independence is not by force, but by subtle manipulation — where reality is bendable, attention is hackable, and truth is negotiable. In such an environment, reclaiming and defending our freedom requires more than patriotism. It requires cognitive sovereignty — the right to govern our own minds, to access truth without obstruction or deception, and to resist the forces that would bend or unduly influence our thoughts to serve someone else’s agenda.”
Gestapo? Ja vol, mein Herr. Wir haben eine Gestapo, Lucian K. Truscott IV, Newsletter, 7/3/25: “We are now a nation that has unloosed an unofficial, unaccountable, untrained, unvetted, undisciplined, unidentifiable Gestapo.” (ICE)
The Secret Police Are Here: While the Professional Moderates Clutch Their Pearls, Mike Brock, Notes from the Circus, 7/5/25: “The infrastructure of American authoritarianism is operational. The question is whether we’ll acknowledge this reality before it becomes irreversible, or whether we’ll continue debating admissions forms while democracy dies of a thousand bureaucratic cuts.”
Immigrants: A Love Letter, Rebecca Solnit, Meditations in an Emergency, 7/5/25: “It is a shocking, obscene, and endlessly cruel reign of terror already, and this budget bill intends to make it far worse. Which means all of us are called on to act in solidarity, to stand with immigrants, stand for their rights, and stand against ICE and this regime.”
BREAKING: Elon Musk Announces a New Party: Democrats Should Throw Him a Parade, Rachel Bitcofer, Cycle, 7/4/25
The U.S. Is Switching Sides: Donald Trump is giving Vladimir Putin every incentive to keep killing Ukrainians, Anne Applebaum, Atlantic, 7/4/25: “Inside the United States, Russian propaganda is most loudly and effectively promoted by appointees of the U.S. president.”
People Don't Like Israel Because Israel Is Committing Genocide: That's it, Jack Mirkinson, Discourse, 6/30/25
Someone has disappeared. But someone has shattered too. The
president is in the hospital. His hands and throat spout saws. But
the house of representatives must be rebuilt. Like building a sun
from banana leaves. Someone has disappeared.
—from “Politics' Corpse Covered with the Morning Paper” by Afrizal Malna, Tr fr Indonesian by Daniel Owen
AI, Ayee, Oi Vey
AI has adopted colonialism as its business model: Extract resources from others and use it to enrich yourself and your customers at the expense of those whose resources you have taken, without giving much back.—Tim O’Reilly
The Parrot in the Machine: The artificial intelligence industry depends on plagiarism, mimicry, and exploited labor, not intelligence, James Gleick, NY Review of Books, 7/24/25 issue. Book: The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want, Emily M. Bender, Alex Hanna
Botshit Gone Wild: The downsides of generative AI are spreading like wildfire, Gary Marcus, Marcus on AI, 7/4/25: “AI well and could truly could be a world-changing positive force, but Generative AI, I am not so sure…It’s a strange new world we are entering.”
The Force-Feeding of AI on an Unwilling Public: This isn't innovation, it's tyranny, Ted Gioia, Honest Broker, 7/5/25: “That’s the blight of the AI revolution. It looks like spam. It smells like spam. It tastes like spam.”
I should be content
to look at a mountain
for what it is
and not as a comment
on my life.
—from “Content,” David Ignatow
Science, Environment, Wilderness
How can we rewild the Earth at scale? From global targets to backyard projects, Spencer R. Scott, The Elysian, 6/30/25: “I want to see the recuperation of the world. I want to see the planet refill with the million species that humans have put at risk of extinction.”
Meet Kerala’s ‘rainforest gardeners’ creating a Noah’s ark for endangered plants: In one of the world’s ‘hottest hotspots’ of biodiversity, an all-female team have turned a patch of forest into a haven for orchids, ferns, succulents and carnivorous plants, Neelima Vallangi, The Guardian, 7/1/25
The Arctic is getting louder, and whales are paying the price: Melting ice brings more ships and industrial activity, interfering with how whales communicate and behave, YCC Team, Yale Climate Connections, 7/1/25
Near Antarctica, Saltier Seas Mean Less Ice, Study Finds: Briny warm water is mixing on the surface of the ocean, making sea ice melt faster, a new study found, Sachi Kitajima Mulkey, NY Times, 6/30/25 (No paywall)
An unexpected green roof benefit: purging urban rainfall of practically all microplastics: In a laboratory-scale study, green roof mockups kept 97.5 percent of microplastic particles out of runoff, Sarah DeWeerdt, Anthropocene, 7/1/25
The surprising shifts climate change is bringing to Vermont farms: rice paddies, peaches and saffron: Since 1900, annual temperatures in Vermont have increased by about 2 degrees Fahrenheit, and annual precipitation has increased by 21% over the same span, according to the state, Maeve Fairfax, VT Digger, 6/29/25
Smaller nuclear reactors spark renewed interest in a once-shunned energy source: In the past 2 years, half the states have taken action to promote nuclear power, David Montgomery, Stateline, 7/1/25
'Highly Inspiring' Court Ruling Affirms Nations' Legal Duty to Combat Climate Emergency: While the United States and some other major polluters have chosen to ignore climate science, the rest of the international community is advancing protections," said one observer, Brett Wilkins, Common Dreams, 7/4/25
‘A self-inflicted tragedy’: Congress approves reversal of US climate policy: Once Trump signs the megabill, the country will no longer have a federal plan to address the climate crisis, Joseph Winters, Grist, 7/3/25
Physicists Start To Pin Down How Stars Forge Heavy Atoms: The precursors of heavy elements might arise in the plasma underbellies of swollen stars or in smoldering stellar corpses. They definitely exist in East Lansing, Michigan, Jenna Ahart, Quanta, 7/2/25: “It’s hard to reproduce the conditions of a neutron-star collision on Earth.”
Health, Wellness, Wellbeing
A “Striking” Trend: After Texas Banned Abortion, More Women Nearly Bled to Death During Miscarriage, Kavitha Surana, Lizzie Presser, Andrea Suozzo, ProPublica, 7/1/25
Gut microbes could offer protection from toxic ‘forever chemicals,’ Sharon Udasin, The Hill, 7/1/25: “…certain species of human gut bacteria have a remarkably high capacity to soak up PFAS from their environment at a range of concentrations, and store these in clumps inside their cells.”
Is Your Brain Aging Faster Than You? New Science Offers Clues: Emerging research on lifestyle changes and the development of preventive approaches are revealing an opportunity to measure and boost cognitive health, Alex Janin, Wall St Journal, 6/29/25 (No paywall)
Proof That Adult Brains Make New Neurons Settles Scientific Controversy Adult brains grow new neurons, and scientists have finally pinpointed where they come from, Nora Bradford, Smithsonian, 7/3/25: “How do these cells in the human contribute to brain function?”
There are just a few bodies falling from the sky today
I think I recognize some of them
They are my children and one of them whispers to me
This is not the right way to live
And to live in the wrong way is to die in the wrong way
—from “Or (for Isaac),” Daniel Borzutzky (in Best American Poetry, via TP Winch)
Birds, Birds, Birding
Putting All Your Eggs in One Basket: Mark Twain had it right, Laura Erickson, For the Birds, 7/4/25: “…virtually every living bird is the result of a nest that did succeed, produced by a pair that put all their eggs in one basket, watched that basket, and through pluck and luck beat the odds.”
Dear Friends:
There is some real shit happening now, as the important articles I have highlighted this week demonstrate.
While MAGA celebrates the destruction of democracy in behalf of the billionaire ruling class, we must cherish and fight for what truly makes America great—its deepest values, its ability to embrace all who are part of the fabric of a democracy that does bend toward justice, that acknowledges its flaws and strives to be better. Its actual soul.
With all that is happening to our beautiful country, we must reach deeper into ourselves and our history for some bit of hope and optimism. All the terrible attacks on democracy, on humanity, and the Earth itself, require us to organize, work together, defend our values, to love.
Stir your anger. Make it useful and powerful. Do not despair. Stay strong. Find joy where you can. Stand against the darkness.
Please keep in touch…hearing from you makes the work I do worthwhile.
I send my love to all of you—David
What we’re seeing today is a reversal of the arc of justice.—Karen Christensen
Compassion is not a hierarchy. It's the entire ladder of humanity.—Summer Brenner
Stay strong. Banish fear. Stand up for what you know is right.—Journal of the Plague Years