“According to The Hill, in an article typical of U.S. media, Trump’s war on Iran is totally legal for 60 days if Congress does nothing, after which it becomes illegal, unless Congress has explicitly OK’d it. This is supposedly because of the War Powers Resolution of 1973. And The Hill is not alone in pushing this idea. However, the War Powers Resolution consists of words that you can read for yourself, and here are some of them …. It is simply not true that the war will become illegal after 60 days; it has been illegal since the instant it was begun. It is factually false that it must be ended after 60 days in order to comply with the law; it must be ended immediately.” (04/19/26)
“Some commentators look at Trump and the MAGA-dominated Republican Party and conclude that ‘the chaos is the point.’ That is, the purpose of some of the weirder and wilder actions of Trump’s administration is to build an omnipotent totalitarian state by sowing fear, discord, and confusion — to keep their opponents on perpetual tenterhooks, disorganized and unable to effectively respond, as new authoritarian measures roll out. But what if it’s not that?” (04/19/26)
“[T]he young and the hungry around the world, from India to Ukraine, want something different: They want choices and agency and fun and freedom that may not look exactly like our version of it but that is freedom nonetheless. They want to rock. And rock, as Johnny Rotten knows, is both a product of affluence and a route to it. It is not exactly a swindle, as the Sex Pistols insisted, but there is a kind of swindle at the heart of it: Rock is a rebellious pose for the rich kids of the world. It is not a product of rebellion, nor is it, in the American context, an instrument of rebellion. … Freedom is about having choices, and, unromantic and adultified and boring and Protestant and old-fashioned Republican as this particular piece of wisdom might be, money gives you choices.” (04/17/26)
“Digital environments like social media platforms are designed to deliver rewards intermittently and unpredictably, imitating the psychologically addictive qualities of slot machines. The randomness, opacity, and variability are all there on purpose to provoke compulsive engagement. If we take a step back and consider this system, it is strange beyond words: the system links the most personal, private aspects of life and identity to a gambling mechanism, co-opting the most fundamental human feelings and motivations. It has colonized life’s inherent uncertainty and unpredictability, leveraging these fundamental features of existence to generate anxiety and disciplinary power. Digital capitalism has changed the concept of uncertainty itself.” (04/17/26)
“The 1970s are back, as are fears of an economic recession. With oil prices extremely volatile, major supply chain disruptions in the energy sector, and mixed signals from both the White House and Congress, Americans are preparing for yet another year of inflation. High gas prices are just the beginning of what is almost certainly going to be even more pressure on a struggling middle class. If there’s one thing Wall Street hates, it is uncertainty. And in today’s political climate, neither Republicans nor Democrats are providing reassurance to business leaders or the average American. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has seen enough. In a recent interview with Axios, Dimon suggested that an independent candidate might be needed to fix this dysfunction that we’re living through. Welcome to the independent movement, sir.” [editpr’s note: “Independent,” Dimon presumably means, except of the influence of JPMorgan Chase – TLK] (04/18/26)
“Chartism was a constitutional movement. It operated through petition, through the discipline of the mass meeting, through the moral pressure of demonstrated popular will. The General Convention of the Industrious Classes, called regularly from 1839 onwards, styled itself a parliament of the people, not to overthrow parliament but to remind it of its obligation to the people. When three petitions, each signed by millions, were presented and each contemptuously refused, the movement’s response was not insurrection but reorganisation, continued agitation, education and, eventually, decades later, the slow grinding of history through the machinery of genuine reform. Five of the six Chartist demands are now simply the unremarkable fabric of democratic life: universal suffrage, secret ballot, payment of MPs, no property qualification for membership of parliament and equal electoral districts. The sixth, annual parliaments, we decided against, and probably wisely so.” (04/19/26)
“The dysfunction in American politics runs deeper than the mechanics of nomination contests. The United States operates under an unusually rigid two‑party system that compresses an enormous range of political views into two increasingly polarized coalitions. Adjusting the rules of primaries may change how candidates are nominated, but it does little to change the incentives created by the larger political environment.” (04/18/26)
“The world’s tech leaders – the ones who are driving the AI revolution – insist that people like me are actually the foundation of the technology shaping the future. The numbers prove them right.” (04/19/26)
“When astronaut Christina Koch, the first woman to fly around the moon, reported an issue from space that could have been copy-pasted from any IT helpdesk ticket, something clicked for Americans. Her grievance? ‘No joy seeing the device in the list of available devices when I attempt to re-pair it after doing the Bluetooth forget.’ Commander Reid Wiseman, orbiting Earth aboard the Artemis II mission, radioed Houston with a problem millions of office workers share: ‘I have two Microsoft Outlooks, and neither one of those are working.’ So much for old ‘one small step for man …’ Internet commentators found these moments painfully relatable and shared them widely. Why did those quotes about tech maintenance go viral in April 2026? Beneath the comedy lies an underappreciated cost of modernity: we are wealthier, and that wealth means we own more things.” (04/17/26)
