Source: TomDispatch
by Tom Engelhardt

“Once upon a time, nothing in this world could have convinced me that I would be living through this moment in this America on this planet. As a start, once upon an increasingly distant time, Donald J. Trump as president of the United States would have been inconceivable. Literally beyond conception, even in some wildly dystopian satiric novel about an all-too(un)-American future. I mean, forget anything else, a man who in private life bankrupted six (yes, six!) companies has now been elected president of the United States not just once but twice. You know, the fellow who thinks of those he considers his domestic enemies (and that’s not too strong a word for it), whether Democrats, Republicans, or journalists as nothing short of (and this is the word he uses: ‘evil’).” (07/31/25)

https://tomdispatch.com/bankruptcy-is-us/

Source: Astral Codex Ten
by Scott Alexander

“Polygenic embryo screening is a natural extension of two well-validated technologies: genetic testing of embryos, and polygenic prediction of traits in adults. Genetic testing of embryos has been done for decades, usually to detect chromosomal abnormalities like Down Syndrome or simple single-gene disorders like cystic fibrosis. It’s challenging – you need to take a very small number of cells (often only 5-10) from a tiny proto-placenta that may not have many cells to spare, and extract a readable amount of genetic material from this limited sample – but there are known solutions that mostly work. But most traits are polygenic, requiring information about thousands or tens of thousands of genes to predict. These are too complicated to understand fully at current levels of technology, but some studies have chipped away at the problem and gotten a partial understanding.” (07/31/25)

https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/suddenly-trait-based-embryo-selection

Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob

“‘The Crown says it’s seeking an extraordinary sentence for an unprecedented crime,’ wrote Arthur White-Crummey for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation last week, ‘as court began hearing sentencing submissions Wednesday in the mischief case of Ottawa truck convoy leaders Tamara Lich and Chris Barber. The ‘Ottawa truck convoy’ is what they are calling the big anti-totalitarian protests made by truckers in Canada during the late pandemic scare. … a specific kind of government does indeed prosecute its opponents in this manner, no matter how peaceful. Tyrannical governments.” (07/31/25)

https://thisiscommonsense.org/2025/07/31/precedented-prosecution/

Source: Washington Post
by Matt Bai

“After skipping the California governor’s race, she should make the same call on the presidency.” (07/31/25)

https://archive.is/bGuZW

Source: Quillette
by Daniel Lelchuk

“His ability to provide valued counsel to Presidents of both major parties originated from a deep love for his country tempered by decades of accumulated political wisdom.” (07/31/25)

https://quillette.com/2025/07/31/repairing-americas-broken-civic-spirit-lessons-from-david-gergen-1942-2025/