The Weird Times
Inner Monologues and Desultory Reporting from Outer Spaces: Issue 266, June 15, 2025 (V6 #6)
All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible. Such people have a tendency to become drunk on violence, a condition to which they are quickly addicted.— Frank Herbert
Compassion is not a hierarchy. It's the entire ladder of humanity.—Summer Brenner
Books, Music, Art, Culture
Brian Wilson, singer-songwriter who created the Beach Boys, dies at 82: His catalogue of early hits, including “I Get Around,” “Don’t Worry Baby” and “California Girls,” helped make the group the most popular American rock act of the 1960s, Tim Page, Washington Post, 6/11/25 (No paywall)
The 25 Greatest Beach Boys Songs of All Time, Matt Mitchell, Paste, 6/12/25: #1: “Surf’s Up”
Dove nested towers, the hour was
Strike the street, quicksilver moon
Carriage across the fog
Two-step to lamp lights cellar tune
—from “Surf’s Up,” Lyrics by Van Dyke Parks
Taking Up Space: Relationships as Sites of Social Transformation: Encouraging Us to Reevaluate Our Conceptions of Embodiment, Space and Human Connection, Prentis Hemphill, LitHub, 6/13/25: “History was never the story of great men alone, as our textbooks would have us believe. It was always the story of relationships.” Book: What It Takes to Heal: How Transforming Ourselves Can Change the World
On Marianne Moore, Unexpected Celebrity Poet of Midcentury America: the Multifaceted Life and Work of America’s Foremost Female Poet of the 20th Century, Susan Gubar, LitHub, 6/9/25: “Moore devoted her creative energies in her final decades to poems thanking New York.”
Funk Legend Sly Stone Dead at 82, Matt Mitchell, Paste, 6/9/25: “Sly’s work with Larry Graham and his siblings Freddie and Rose in the Family Stone transformed the funk genre, leading to one of the greatest albums of the 1970s (There’s a Riot Goin’ On) and an all-time, rock and roll-defining #1 single (‘Everyday People’).”
In Times of Trouble, My Mother’s History Tells Me We Shall Overcome: Our lives are marked by our creative journeys, both inward and outward, Winona LaDuke, Barn Raiser, 6/9/25
‘The risk was worth it’: All Fours author Miranda July on sex, power and giving women permission to blow up their lives, Zoe Williams, The Guardian, 6/14/25: “The artist and author’s hit book had so much in common with her own life that even her friends forgot it wasn’t real. How did this revolutionary portrayal of midlife desire come to inspire a generation of women?”
Life is Not a Simulation: It's Magic: Your embodiment is your connection to the real story, Doug Rushkoff, Newsletter, 6/12/25: “Your embodiment is your connection to the real story, and as long as you can resist the temptation to make too much sense of what is going on, you stand a chance of experiencing it while you’re here.”
Social media destroyed one of America's key advantages: We used to be able to spread out. Now we're locked in with each other, Noah Smith, Noahpinion, 6/13/25: “… the U.S. seems to have been uniquely wounded by the last decade and a half…. The introduction of the smartphone — and especially, social media on the smartphone — seems to have something to do with it.”
Florida's literary inquisition, Judd Legum, Rebecca Crosby, Noel Sims, Popular Information, 6/12/25: “In a chilling meeting of the Florida State Board of Education last week, a school district superintendent was publicly browbeaten and repeatedly threatened with criminal prosecution.”
At night the states
I forget them or I wish I was there
in that one under the
Stars. It smells like June in this night
so sweet like air.
I may have decided that the
States are not that tired
Or I have thought so. I have
thought that.
—from “All Night the States,” Alice Notley
Politics, Economics, Technology
This is what Donald Trump and his violent rhetoric has brought: Two Minnesota Lawmakers Shot Inside Their Homes, Lucian K. Truscott IV, Newsletter, 6/14/25: “It can happen anywhere.”
‘No Kings’ rallies draw big crowds to protest Trump and his policies: Across the country, relatively few disruptions were reported during protests and marches where the mood ranged from joyful to defiant, Annie Gowen, Washington Post, 6/14/25 (No paywall)
Feeling cautiously optimistic about American democracy: This is still the country I grew up in, Noah Smith, Noahpinion, 6/15/25: “[Protest] was a stunning victory for message discipline among the anti-Trump opposition.”
We’ll Never Go Back: A Reason To Smile, Dan Rather, Steady, 6/15/25: “We got rid of a king once. We won’t abide another.”
LA Protesters Aren’t Inviting Violent Authoritarianism, They’re Mobilizing to Stop It: Adam Schiff and centrist concern trolls have it completely backward: Trump’s immigration crackdown is the source of pervasive violence, Natasha Lennard, The Intercept, 6/9/25
Handcuffing a U.S. Senator Is a Warning: The treatment of Alex Padilla is part of a pattern of harassing Donald Trump’s opposition, David A. Graham, Atlantic, 6/13/25 (No paywall)
So We're Doing This Nonsense Again: Anti-fascist protests have erupted, so it's time for pundits to trot out every last stupid trope we've come to know and hate, Jack Mirkinson, Discourse, 6/9/25: “…hating this government is THE RIGHT THING. It’s a hateful government!”
This Is Not a Drill: American democracy is on the line right now, Paul Krugman, Newsletter, 6/12/25: “…An attempt to end politics as we know it, to deploy force to suppress dissent. Not eventually, but right now.”
Noem, the FBI & Trump Just Sent a Message to America: the Police State is Not Coming—it’s Here: Senator Alex Padilla asked a question. The regime answered with fists, lies, and a chilling promise: ‘We’re not going away,’ Thom Hartmann, Hartmann Report, 6/13/25
In L.A., an attempt to ‘end politics:’ The real story of the assault on Senator Alex Padilla is Secretary Kristi Noem’s talk of regime change, The Ink, 6/13/25
Federalizing the National Guard: A primer and what comes next, Asha Rangappa, Freedom Academy, 6/11/25: “Trump is purporting to federalize all National Guards, perhaps with the intent to send troops into other cities as well, without the states’ consent.”
“The Moment We Have Feared Is Here:” Newsom's moment. Trump's crappy poll, Charlie Sykes, To the Contrary, 6/12/25: “The new Quinnipiac Poll has Trump’s approval rating at 38 percent…Trump is underwater on every major issue.”
Trump's civil war: And our new birth of freedom, Timothy Snyder, Thinking About, 6/12/25: “It is clear what Trump is trying to do. He wants to turn everything around. He wants an army that is not a legal institution but a personal paramilitary…. This can only succeed if it goes unchallenged.”
A New Era of Resistance, and the History of Crowds and Power: Decentralized resistance as a new model, and how autocrats criminalize dissent and reward compliance, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Lucid, 6/14/25: “I believe in my maxim more than ever: Never Underestimate the American People.”
Meeting the moment: Following his constituents' lead, Newsom stood up to the fascists, Melissa Ryan, CtrlAltRightDelete, 6/11/25
The Heart of the Matter, Rebecca Solnit, Meditations in an Emergency, 6/12/25: “I believe we have the power to stand up for our rights and the rights of nature, the protection of the vulnerable (including nonhuman life and the planet), the rule of law, the values of equality, democracy, and justice.”
The Mounting Crisis of Militarizing Immigration Enforcement, William Banks, Mark Nevitt, Just Security, 6/11/25: “The Insurrection Act…would allow the president to deploy active-duty military and federalized National Guard to enforce federal law or suppress a rebellion against federal authority whenever the president determines…”
Troops and marines deeply troubled by LA deployment: ‘Morale is not great:’ Several service members told advocacy groups they felt like pawns in a political game and assignment was unnecessary, Andrew Gumbel, The Guardian, 6/12/25
‘Who controls the present controls the past’: What Orwell’s ‘1984’ explains about the twisting of history to control the public, Laura Beers, The Conversation, 6/9/25: “The Trump administration has taken unprecedented steps to rewrite the nation’s official history, attempting to purge parts of the historical narrative down Orwellian memory holes.”
To Defeat Trump's Fascism, We Must Confront Militarism: While most Americans instinctively understand the threat U.S. militarism poses to democracy, the times call for more explicit links between militarism and rising fascism and a blueprint for reversing this threat, Christine Ahn, Leslie Cagan, Common Dreams, 6/12/25
The secret police descending on Small Town, U.S.A.: Masked immigration officials are storming towns and arresting people, Catherine Rampell, Washington Post, 6/11/25 (example – Great Barrington, MA): “…agents…in masks and tactical gear and refused to show IDs, warrants or even the names of any criminals they were supposedly hunting.”
On Democracy, Liberated Energy, and the Perfect Moment, Bill McKibben, Crucial Years, 6/13/25: “…decentralized power is a key part of the fight against the centralized power that Trump represents.” DW: No wonder Trump/Koch Bros./Saudis all oppose solar and wind.
Why is the media ignoring growing resistance to Trump? Protest actions like ‘Hands Off’ and ‘No Kings’ are sweeping across the US. But the media is barely paying attention, Margaret Sullivan, The Guardian, 6/13/25
The David Hogg experiment just ended in disaster: And, scene, Chris Cillizza, So What, 6/12/25: “Donald Trump is in the midst of a radical expansion of executive power….And the DNC is in the midst of the internecine fight.”
“We’ve Been Sold a Story That Isn’t Remotely True”: How Private-Equity Billionaires Killed the American Dream: In her new book, Bad Company, journalist Megan Greenwell shows how the secretive industry has insinuated itself into average Americans’ lives, Issie Lapowsky, Vanity Fair, 6/9/25
Republicans are trying to sell a bizarre fantasy on the economy: Would you believe we're on the cusp of a miraculous eruption of prosperity unlike anything Americans have experienced before? Paul Waldman, Public Notice, 6/12/25
Enraged at Judicial Setbacks From His Own Nominees, Trump Is Pushing Extremists: Trump is trying to pack the courts with inexperienced MAGA loyalists to facilitate his authoritarian agenda, Schuyler Mitchell, Truthout, 6/10/25
The great American gaslighting: The men in charge don’t know what they’re doing, Lyz Lenz, Men Yell at Me, 6/11/25: “…private equity is disemboweling our country.”
Israel, Palestine, and the Consequences of Moral Coarsening: A special kind of hell is unfolding in Gaza, Andrew Sullivan, Persuasion, 6/12/25: “All war is hell; but war against children is a special kind of hell.”
What Gaza Needs Now: My family is starving. My neighbors are dying. I’m compelled to share these injustices because they need to stop, Mosab Abu Toha, New Yorker, 6/12/25: “It is time for Palestinians to enjoy self-determination, and to live safely in our homeland.”
Seven Lies about Israel’s Attack on Iran: I was a US intelligence analyst. Trump and Netanyahu are lying to you, Harrison Mann, Zeteo, 6/14/25
Iran, Russia, and the End of the World as It Is: Status quo huggers hide behind fear of what might happen instead of confronting the brutal truth of what’s actually happened or is happening, Garry Kasparov, Next Move, 6/14/25: “It’s our responsibility to meet the enormous challenges of the world as it is so that we don’t wait forever to realize the world as it ought to be.”
Near the end of my first marriage,
I caught my husband in a lie so elaborate,
so astonishing, that my shock gave way
to reverence. It’s impossible to know
how far we can go until we arrive.
—from “Exit Plans,” Joan Kwon Glass (Best American Poetry, 6/8/25, thanks TP Winch)
AI, Ayee, Oi Vey
Delegation and Destruction: AI’s existential threat to humanity is real. Can we resist the temptation? Francis Fukuyama, Persuasion, 6/13/25: “Delegation is the central problem in all human organizations, and will be the central problem in the coming agentic AI world.”
Science, Environment, Wilderness
The Value of Nature: Why have some gifts of nature remained free? Alyssa Battistoni, Dissent, Spring 2025: “Advocates of pricing nature correctly identify the problem: that in a world of generalized commodity exchange, things without exchange value are treated as worthless.
Native American tribe steps up to protect Florida lands for wildlife: Miccosukee Tribe partners with Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation to safeguard lands as part of ‘moral obligation:’ Richard Luscombe, The Guardian, 6/15/25
Civil rights leader links climate change to racial justice: Rev. Dr. Gerald Durley says the fight for clean air and a safe environment is related to the battle for racial equity, YCC Team, Yale Climate Connections, 6/10/25: “Both movements want the same thing: the quality of life.”
A drop in the ocean: does experimental technology hold the key to saving the world’s seas? Investment is pouring into companies promising to geoengineer a rapid change in the pH of our waters – but critics are concerned at the speed at which unproven methods are being adopted, Alexandra Talty, The Guardian, 6/10/25
‘Old statistics do not apply’: Record-breaking Arctic heatwave made 3C hotter by climate change, Euronews Green, 6/11/25: “even cold climate countries are experiencing unprecedented temperatures.”
As Trump Unwinds Federal Oversight, States Become Battlegrounds for Environmental Data: From Colorado to Virginia, environmental groups are challenging legal barriers that prevent scientists and communities from seeing the full picture of fossil fuel harms, Sharon Kelly, Desmog, 6/11/25
War Is Peace, Gas Is Now ‘Clean Energy:’ Secretive dark money groups are pushing states to redefine methane gas, undermining renewable energy initiatives, Emily Sanders, The Lever, 6/9/25
The Goldilocks Conditions for Wildfires: Twenty years of data from around the world show that areas that are not too dry and not too wet are most conducive to wildfire burning, Sarah Derouin, Eos, 6/9/25
Honey Bees Learn to Fight Deadly Varroa Mites: In the face of colony collapse, some beekeepers are foregoing insecticides and opting instead to breed bees with mite-resistant behaviors, Jordan Charbonneau, Civil Eats, 6/11/25
Something in the water: how kelp is helping Maine’s mussels boom: When a US firm saw the seaweed was making their shellfish the ‘biggest and best’ scientists realised they’d hit upon a natural way to combat ocean acidification, Vanessa Gezari, The Guardian, 6/11/25
How Restored Wetlands Can Protect Europe from Russian Invasion: The flooding of Ukraine’s Irpin valley thwarted Russia’s assault on Kyiv in 2022. Now, scientists are proposing Europe create a band of restored and protected wetlands along its eastern borders to deter future Russian aggression, and military strategists are taking notice, Christian Schwägerl, Yale E360, 6/11/25
Mapping the Unmapped: Can a crowdsourced map of the world help save millions of people from climate disaster? Maddy Crowell, Grist, 6/11/25
After Massive Cuts to Forest Service, US Enters Fire Season Woefully Unprepared: The results could be catastrophic, especially in states that have experienced unprecedented fires in recent years, Sasha Abramsky, Truthout, 6/14/25
These glowing axolotls may hold the secret to human limb regeneration: The adorable salamanders are helping scientists investigate a serious question: Could the human body be coaxed to regrow a lost arm or leg? Dino Grandoni, Washington Post, 6/10/25
Humpback Whales Are Way Cooler Than You: Just take a look at these smoke rings, Bob Grant, Nautilus, 6/13/25
Who cares what I have failed to become.
I will die knowing that
we lived forever.
—from “Immortality,” Wes Matthews
Health, Wellness, Wellbeing
Endocrine disruptors impair women’s fertility, may lead to PCOS, major review finds, Pamela Ferdinand, US Right to Know, 6/9/25: “Strong evidence indicates they damage female reproductive health and increase the risk of polycystic ovary syndrome.”
Climate Change Warps Brains in the Womb, Scientists Discover, Becky Ferreira, 404 Media, 6/14/25
How Exactly Did Hunter-Gatherers Sleep? On Rest and Relaxation in the Prehistoric Era: the Sleeping Patterns and Habits of Our Earliest Ancestors, Dr. Merijn van de Laar, LitHub, 6/12/25: “If we want to comprehend our own sleep, we need to look at the way our bodies have evolved over many thousands of years.” Book: How to Sleep Like a Caveman: Ancient Wisdom for a Better Night’s Rest
Birds, Birds, Birding
The rise of the Anthropocene can be tracked in hummingbirds’ beaks: The beaks of Anna's hummingbirds in California grew longer as people started hanging artificial feeders, according to new research, Warren Cornwall, Anthropocene, 6/11/25
Study reveals why the early bird sings early, Kathi Borgmann, Cornell Chronicle, 6/12/25: “…territorial behavior and diet help explain why some birds sing more often at dawn, challenging traditional theories about dawn choruses.”
The newly posted Writerscast interview is with historian Mark van de Logt about his excellent book, Between the Floods: A History of the Arikaras. His commitment to creating a history of this Northern Plains nation that honors the storytelling of the tribe itself makes this an important book.
Friends:
We must remain optimistic! This is our time to organize, to work together, defend our values, to love each other, and to build a better world.
We stand together in our communities of every kind.
Please keep in touch…hearing from you makes the work I do worthwhile.
I send my love to all of you - David
Stay strong. Banish fear. Stand up for what you know is right.—Journal of the Plague Years
Revolting conditions elicit revolutionary solutions.—Alan Dugan