“A meteor exploded over New England Saturday afternoon, creating a daytime fireball and a massive ‘double boom’ that shook local homes. The American Meteor Society reported the space rock puncture the atmosphere around 2:30 p.m. before disintegrating over the ocean near eastern Massachusetts. … Several people filed reports with the US Geological Survey registered the shaking with the National Earthquake Information Center, according to an agency spokesperson. … The phenomenon was observed from Delaware to Montreal.” (05/30/26)
“The philosophers of the Frankfurt School practiced a technique called negative dialectics, where concepts are defined as much by what you can’t say about them as what you can. Appropriately, the Frankfurt School has ended up defined by what you can’t say about them. You can’t say that they invented a new form of left-wing thought called Cultural Marxism. This would be (according to Wikipedia) the Cultural Marxism conspiracy theory, a ‘far right anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that misinterprets Western Marxism, especially the Frankfurt School, as being responsible for modern progressive movements, identity politics, and political correctness.’ … What other aspects of our culture might we be unable to say they were involved in? For answers, I turned to the classic history of the group, Martin Jay’s The Dialectical Imagination.” (05/29/26)
“Herbert Hoover’s wartime sugar program generated shortages that led to expanding rationing systems and increasingly centralized control over the allocation of sugar.” (05/29/26)
“President Trump’s name must be removed from the Kennedy Center, according to an order signed Friday by a D.C. district judge. The ruling is a hit to the president’s effort to renovate the performing arts venue, which was scheduled to close later this year so work could begin. Friday’s order also halted the closure. ‘The Court has concluded that the Board overstepped its statutory bounds by unilaterally renaming the Kennedy Center after President Trump,’ U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper wrote in a 94-page ruling.” (05/29/26)
“America’s political gerontocracy is a genuine problem. It fuels dysfunction, distrust, and concrete negative policy consequences. We can’t sweep it under the rug any longer: too many of our high officeholders, including a disproportionate number of Democrats, are simply too old. It’s not unacceptable ageism to say so; it’s the cold, hard reality. And it’s time to confront it head on: we need a mandatory retirement age for politicians.” (05/29/26)
“A total of 219 people have been injured in clashes between football fans and police across France after Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) won the Champions League final against Arsenal. Eight were in a serious condition, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said. Thousands of officers were deployed to curb unrest that disrupted bus, train and rail services in the capital, Paris. Fifty-seven of them were injured. Nuñez said 780 people had been arrested over the violence — with more than 450 in custody. A person was found dead after an accident on Paris’s ring road, which rioters tried to block overnight. Some 6,000 police have been mobilised for Sunday’s victory parade at the site of the Eiffel Tower.” (05/31/26)
