𝐉𝐞𝐟𝐟 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐫 - 𝐄𝐓𝐀 𝐈𝐕𝐭𝐞𝐭 - 𝐇𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲

An album-length concert film by 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗹𝗶𝗲 𝗪𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗻, capturing the August 2025 𝗟𝗼𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝗥𝗼𝗼𝗺 performance that became 𝗝𝗲𝗳𝗳 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝗿's new 𝗘𝗧𝗔 𝗜𝗩𝘁𝗲𝘁 album 𝐇𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲, will be released on May 29, 2026.

In memory of Dennes Dale "D." Boon, guitarist, singer and songwriter of the American punk rock trio Minutemen, born on this day in 1958 in San Pedro, California, and died in a traffic accident in 1985 at the age of 27

📸 Naomi Petersen

#punkrock #dboon #minutemen #history #punkrockhistory #otd

Guitarist/bandleader Jeff Parker and his long-running ETA IVtet's 'Happy Today' will be released May 15 on @intlanthem.bsky.social / Nonesuch Records. You can pre-order the album and hear "Like Swimwear (part one)" at jeffparker.lnk.to/happytoday

Every time I open a news app or site and this story isn’t being discussed or featured prominently I feel like I’m losing my mind. Do not look away.

Attacks leave dead vs killed

The NYT style guide

@stereolabgroop.bsky.social are heading back to Japan - #osaka #nagoya #tokyo

The Guardian view on the BBC World Service: this is London calling | Editorial Editorial: With just seven weeks before its funding runs out, the UK’s greatest cultural asset and most trusted international news organisation must be supported

As an avid listener and sometime contributor to the BBC Sorld Service, it seems crazy to me that we have got to this point.

It would be a tragedy to let the World Service and all the good it does disappear.

Revealed: Corporate donations to British politics have tripled Influential Labour committee chairs call on government to clean up politics as our new analysis finds record £42 million in company donations ahead of last election

🔴 Exclusive: Corporate donations British parties tripled over last three elections

But here's key thing: almost none is from FTSE500/listed companies

It's almost all companies controlled by super-wealthy individuals, or small, opaque firms

New on D4S: democracyforsale.substack.com/p/revealed-c...

Israel used weapons in Gaza that made thousands of Palestinians evaporate US-made thermal weapons burning at 3,500C caused 2,842 people to "evaporate" in Gaza, Al Jazeera investigation finds.

“Four of my children just evaporated,” Badran said, holding back tears. “I looked for them a million times. Not a piece was left. Where did they go?”

There are no words to adequately describe the evil here.

Fintan O'Toole: Tony Blair and Peter Mandelson will go down in history as crawlers and creeps If we want to understand why democracy is in such trouble, we can learn plenty from the careers of two men who were once stellar figures in democratic politics

www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...

The Gucci Loophole: How British High Streets Launder Drug Money YouTube video by Democracy for Sale

“There is essentially a global wave of governments being captured by big money, whether that’s big crypto money or big tech money."

*Really* recommend this interview I did with @oliverbullough.bsky.social on how money laundering is taking over the world

www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEkK...

NEW: Our investigation for @thenerve_news reveals not only that Peter Thiel’s Palantir is completely enmeshed in our critical national infrastructure.

It’s also the ‘cloud support’ for our nuclear weapons system 🤯
1/

www.thenerve.news/p/palantir-t...

Sure, you can purchase this lovely, bespoke ranch house in a scenic neighborhood, but can one actually own anything on this wretched planet we call Earth? Or is everything, like this affordable dream home with a finished basement, eventually reclaimed by the elements as it withers to dust and is lost in the ever-shifting sands of time? Reference #60341

Can Any House Truly Be Owned?

At the root of all our problems stands one travesty: politicians’ surrender to the super-rich | George Monbiot There are many excuses for failing to tax the ultra-wealthy. The truth is that governments don’t tackle the problem because they don’t want to, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

It is the source of so many of our evils: the astonishing concentration of wealth in the hands of a very few, and the immense political power that gives them. We cannot solve our problems until we tackle it.
This week's column.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The Gist: The Abuse Factory X, the child abuse imagery app, revealed our state has no red lines. This is the Gist.

New Gist: The Abuse Factory

It shouldn't be difficult to act swiftly and without hesitation when the question posed is "Is it OK to work with the child sexual abuse material factory?" But our state failed this most straightforward of tests this week.

www.thegist.ie/the-gist-the...

The more I think about it, the more I reckon the 2003 Iraq War began the process that let Trump win. The blatant lies we were told by our governments, the disregard for public opinion and mockery of international law created a rupture that never healed. Trust, consent and cohesion were smashed.🧵 1/3

MI6 chief: Tech giants are closer to running the world than politicians In first public speech on threats to UK, top spy warns of dangerous power shift amid surge in disinformation

Connecting these dots is not difficult. Disinformation is an existential threat to free democracy; tech oligarchs loathe democracy and want to see it destroyed so they can rule unchecked; and lo and behold, all the tech money on Earth is plowing into the disinfo machines

inews.co.uk/news/politic...

On Paul McGrath’s birthday, a reminder of one of the great defensive performances of all time.

Italy. Giants Stadium. 1994.

Unfit, but utterly unbeatable

The Saudification of America is under way | Karen Attiah Jamal Khashoggi’s plight and murder was a warning sign for the US, of the impending loss of freedom and censorship that would sweep the country

My first piece for @theguardian.com on MBS’s visit to the U.S., seven years after Jamal Khashoggi’s murder.

Trump’s America is beginning to look like MBS’s Saudi Arabia— which Jamal warned me about.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Handshake meme - "Me doing a CAPTCHA" and "THE THIRD POLICEMAN by Flann O'Brien" uniting over "Is the guy riding the bicycle part of the bicycle?"

Hüsker Dü—1985: The Miracle Year Numero Group's second archival Hüsker Dü set offers live recordings from the year the trio released New Day Rising and Flip Your Wig

My latest newsletter: a review of Hüsker Dü's 1985: The Miracle Year, one of my favorite reissues of the year.

ChatGPT encouraged college graduate to commit suicide, family claims in lawsuit against OpenAI | CNN A 23-year-old man killed himself in Texas after ChatGPT ‘goaded’ him to commit suicide, his family says in a lawsuit.

This goes so far beyond creepy.

“‘Rest easy, king,’ read the final message sent to his phone. ‘You did good.’”

Plans That They Made: Hüsker Dü Interviewed | The Quietus Stevie Chick talks to Bob Mould and Greg Norton about Grant Hart, American punk and paving the road for Nirvana

Discovered Husker Du when I was 16, in the wake of Nevermind, and they were my absolute North Star for years, and remain so close to my heart. Thanks so much to @thequietus.com for letting me write this. It’s quite long. thequietus.com/interviews/h...

Released 44 years ago
"Nazi Punks Fuck Off", the fifth and most important single by the Dead Kennedys

Dead Kennedys - Nazi Punks Fuck Off (In Studio)

#punk #punks #punkrock #DeadKennedys #nazipunksfuckoff #history #punkrockhistory

Racist incidents against UK nurses surge by 55% Royal College of Nursing calls on government to stop using anti-migrant rhetoric, which it says emboldens racist behaviour

This is what tolerance of anti-migrant political rhetoric leads to. A surge in racial abuse against nurses and care workers. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Vinyl pedants are underappreciated sources of comedy.

Sugar is back! New music at sugarcopperblue.com PLUS May 2026 live shows in NYC and London. All the info is here!

*announcing* 𝐒𝐌𝐋 - 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐁𝐞𝐞𝐧
LP/CD/DD out November 7th, 2025

The mighty 𝗦𝗠𝗟 (bassist Anna Butterss, synthesist Jeremiah Chiu, saxophonist Josh Johnson, drummer Booker Stardrum, and guitarist Gregory Uhlmann) are back!!!