Latest posts
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E. Jean Carroll vs. Donald Trump: The $83.3 Million Reminder That Defamation Still Has a Price Tag
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a unanimous per curiam decision that might as well have been subtitled “Actions Have Consequences, Even for Presidents Who Think They’re Immune to Consequences.” The ruling upheld the $83.3 million defamation judgment against Donald J. Trump in Carroll v. Trump (No. 24-644), rejecting his immunity claim with
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The Supreme Court Greenlights Guesswork Policing (or How to Arrest Someone for Existing in Spanish)
The U.S. Supreme Court once again demonstrated its uncanny ability to treat the Bill of Rights like IKEA instructions: skimmed, misread, and discarded in the recycling bin because who has time for nuance when there are “emergency dockets” to clear. In a 6–3 order, the Court stayed a Los Angeles federal judge’s restraining order that
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Article II and a Boatload of Problems: How to Commit Extrajudicial Murder Without Even Calling It War
America has always had a complicated relationship with international law. We like to write it, we like to invoke it, and—when convenient—we like to fold it into a paper airplane and see how far it flies before bursting into flames over someone else’s territorial waters. On September 3, 2025, U.S. forces killed 11 people in
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Welcome to the Two-Legged Economy: Health Care, Hotels, and Everyone Else on Crutches
America’s economy has always been a circus, but lately it feels like the trapeze act is down to two ropes. On September 7, 2025, after the latest jobs report limped across the stage, the spotlight revealed a recovery balanced precariously on just two legs: health care and hospitality. Everything else—manufacturing, construction, retail, logistics, white-collar offices—is
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Trump vs. Newsom and the Battle for America’s Caps Lock Key
The Washington Post unveiled what can only be described as America’s summer-long pay-per-view event: the cage match between President Donald Trump and California Governor Gavin Newsom. Forget inflation. Forget foreign policy. Forget climate collapse. The real fight for America’s soul is happening on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, now better known as a
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Operation Meme Force: Patriot 2.0 and the Theater of Fear
Boston woke up to the sound of sirens and shoe leather on pavement. It wasn’t a fire, or a parade, or even a Red Sox win worth storming the streets for. It was coordinated ICE raids—marketed by the Department of Homeland Security under the charming name Patriot 2.0. Nothing says “land of the free” like
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When the Sky Itself Becomes a Weapon
Overnight into September 7, 2025, Russia treated Ukraine not to diplomacy, not to dialogue, but to the largest aerial assault of the war. Eight hundred drones and decoys. A dozen-odd missiles. A Cabinet of Ministers building in Kyiv set ablaze like a grotesque fireworks finale. Ukraine says it intercepted the vast majority. But when the
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The Man Who Shot Down Shots: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Public Health Hunger Games
The curtain was finally pulled back on the chaos at the heart of American public health. And behind it wasn’t a wizard, or even a bureaucrat in a lab coat. It was Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—HHS Secretary, anti-vaccine crusader turned federal kingpin of medicine, and proof that if you complain loudly enough about mercury in
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The VMAs Tried on Broadcast TV and Accidentally Staged a Pop Census
The MTV Video Music Awards are not an award show so much as an annual group therapy session where pop culture confronts its contradictions under a disco ball. For decades, it was a cable-era ritual: eyeliner, explosions, maybe a snake or two. But on September 7, 2025, the VMAs tried on broadcast television for the
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The Machines Won’t Kill Us—But the Shareholders Might
On September 6, 2025, Geoffrey Hinton—better known as the “godfather of AI” and now the reluctant Cassandra of our algorithmic era—delivered a blunt sermon to Fortune. AI, he argued, will not simply usher in a productivity boom or a Skynet apocalypse. No, its most reliable prophecy is more familiar: a massive rise in profits for