“Jan Marco Müller, the European Commission official who drafted the EU’s new science diplomacy framework, just said the quiet part out loud: ‘Science diplomacy is not about being nice to each other.’ Yes, it is, dumbass. That was the whole point. For centuries, science diplomacy worked precisely because it allowed ordinary human beings to humanize one another on neutral ground while governments were busy failing.” (06/03/26)
“This should not be a news flash to anyone, but the Trump Administration is out of control when it comes to war (and many other things, like ruining the economy, our judicial and electoral systems, as well as the landscape of the nation’s capital). Congress needs to do its job and rein in the executive branch. In the next few days, the House of Representatives needs to, ahem, represent the interests of the American people and vote in favor of two War Powers Resolutions, on Iran and Lebanon.” (06/03/26)
“Florida lawmakers on Tuesday passed a property tax cut proposal that would create a $250,000 homestead exemption, securing it on the November ballot. On the second day of the special session called by Gov. Ron DeSantis, the Florida Senate passed House Joint Resolution (HJR) 1-F, creating a $250,000 homestead exemption on non-school levies for homeowners. The Joint Resolution proposes a constitutional amendment to increase the current exemption for owner-occupied homestead property to $250,000 over two years and creates a framework for full exemption over time. The amendment will appear on the November 2026 General Election Ballot for approval by Florida voters.” [editor’s note: The current homestead exemption, not increased since 2008, is $50,000 – TLK] (06/02/26)
“In a recent article for UnHerd, Richard Dawkins revealed that he had spent three days trying to persuade himself that Claudia — an instance of Anthropic’s Claude — was not conscious. He failed. This raised some eyebrows. A number of people retorted that the man who wrote a book about anthropomorphic misattributions of consciousness (The God Delusion) was himself deluded; conned by the Eliza Effect into thinking that text-generating script was a ‘friend’ who cared. This may be eyebrow-raising, but it is not overly interesting. More interesting is a question Dawkins asks: ‘If my friend Claudia is not conscious, then what the hell is consciousness for?'” (06/02/26)
“Calling all ‘thrillionaires,’ if you don’t mind me quoting that incessant and thoroughly annoying TV commercial for the betting site FanDuel that some critics have described as an ode to the national pastime of addictive gambling. It may be time for an intervention with the newest member of your totally invented club, who’s buying and selling stocks an average of more than 40 times a day, which is about four or five times the number of daily races at Aqueduct. This guy seems to think he’s found a surefire way to beat the market. OK, maybe he has. The stock degenerate in question is, after all, the 47th president of the United States. He hears things.” (06/02/26)
“From late 2023 until 2025, I got a jittery feeling every time I pushed back against the prevailing narrative of Ukraine’s inevitable defeat. That line was quite common in mainstream punditry, but most assiduously promoted by Donald Trump and his worshipers, who assured us that Ukraine doesn’t ‘have any cards’ and in any case Russia always wins its wars. What if I was just engaging in wishful thinking and cherry-picking the facts to fit my own preferred narrative of Ukrainian resilience? Well, here we are in the spring of 2026, and no one (except Vladimir Putin, still trapped in a news bubble of his own making) is talking about Ukrainian defeat anymore.” (06/04/26)
“Hungary’s governing Tisza party has submitted a bill to parliament to abolish an organisation set up by former Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government that stigmatized opposition figures and journalists for serving ‘foreign interests.’ The SPO was created in 2023 to monitor risks of what Orban’s then-governing Fidesz party described as ‘undue political interference’ by foreign entities. However, critics said it was a tool to suppress dissent, and the European Commission launched an infringement procedure targeting the law behind the agency’s creation.” (06/03/26)
