100%. Jeremy Brett was the best Holmes, but Elementary was the best Holmes show.

And even if you could measure a culture against other cultures in some meaningful way, I can't help but think of that Thomas Jefferson quote about slavery: "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just . . ."

Like how are we supposed to do this: award 10 points for each notable culinary accomplishment, but deduct 500 points for failure to grapple with the legacy of slavery? Plus 40 for good pop music, minus 60 for starting an unnecessary war?

Putting aside how weird it is for Palantir to sound so much like Saruman, these arguments are very dumb. It's not wokeness that prevents us from deciding which cultures are "middling" and which are "harmful"; it's the obvious idiocy of trying to measure a whole culture.

Honest question: Are we sure about this after Chiles v. Salazar? "[O]ur precedents have expressly rejected the [...] notion that 'professional speech' represents some 'separate category of speech' subject to 'diminished constitutional protection.'" www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...

Caitlyn Jenner Asks Trump for Help After Impact of Trans Passport Policy

"I can’t travel internationally anymore. I can’t use my passport," Caitlyn Jenner told Tomi Lahren in a recent interview.

2023 tweet from InternetHippo reading: New right wing thing is describing crimes as genetically as possible to pretend like they're not crimes. Someone gets convicted of conspiracy and they start yelling "Wow so it's illegal to make plans with friends now"

Legal ethics version of this

Outside NYC’s ‘Sanctuary City,’ Local Police Routinely Collude With ICE A review of federal court documents by THE CITY reveals three dozen cases in which local law enforcement allegedly cooperated with ICE agents.

"In some cases, immigrants described waiting for police and a tow truck after minor car crashes. ICE came instead." www.thecity.nyc/2026/04/16/l...

Lawyer John Eastman Disbarred for Efforts to Overturn 2020 Election

Many people don't know this, but lawyers aren't allowed to lie about important stuff. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/15/u...

fuck em up, professor

ballsandstrikes.org/legal-cultur...

The Supreme Court Keeps Embracing Convenient Lies to Excuse Rank Bigotry Trans kids are only the latest victims of the justices’ willingness to buy dubious arguments in support of a reactionary policy agenda.

I'm proud to be in @ballsandstrikes.org this morning: ballsandstrikes.org/legal-cultur...

Wait until they found out how many times the Constitution says the President can deport people or limit immigration into the country.

gothamist.com/news/nyc-win...

Very hard not to read those question marks as a Dr. Evil inflection

Sandra Wong, the great granddaughter of Wong Kim Ark, is preparing to march at the #NoKings Rally in San Francisco. Today is the 128th Anniversary of the SCOTUS decision affirming birthright citizenship.

Along with how offensive this is: they could have cast Ian Alexander, who played the role in the game, and chose not to?

If you have a chance to cast Ian Alexander, and you don't, you are failing at showrunning.

I saw my husband at his desk with his head in his hands & I thought something was really wrong. I went over to ask him if he was OK & he said, “I’m fine. there’s just not enough time to read all the books I want to read.”

Professors & university staff were targeted & fired for less than this just a few months ago.

If anybody needs a metaphor, here's an actual deck chair from the Titanic.

Trump Friend Asked ICE to Detain the Mother of His Child

Oh. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/20/u...

I'll also say that it's hard for me to understand how to think without writing. I know what I think and why (and why not other things) because of the process of writing and working through arguments.To have offloaded that to an LLM means you've offloaded thinking.

a banner showcasing rounded still images from We're All Going to the World's Fair, So Pretty and Lingua Franca with the wrods TRAMPS, TROUBLEMAKERS AND TRAILBLAZERS: TRANS FILMMAKERS to the left

It appears that the news has broken that Caden Mark Gardner and I have programmed a series on Trans Filmmakers for the Criterion Channel. These films will be available in April

www.criterion.com/current/post...

FEMA disaster chief claims he is able to teleport: ‘I landed in a ditch by a baptist church’ Gregg Phillips, a conservative activist who spread voter fraud conspiracies, was appointed to lead the federal government's storm disaster response

Here's a non-paywalled account of FEMA's disaster response chief's claim that he teleported to a Waffle House.
www.aol.com/articles/fem...

Judge Zahid Quraishi Ejects New Jersey Federal Prosecutor From Court, Orders Testimony on Office Leadership Structure (Gift Article) Judge Zahid Quraishi of U.S. District Court ejected a federal prosecutor from his courtroom and ordered the three leaders designated to run the U.S. attorney’s office in New Jersey to return to court ...

DOJ should be required to post this transcript with its hiring announcements.

“Hey, 3Ls with no practice experience! Do you want to be publicly castigated for being soft on child porn and forcibly removed from courtrooms because your bosses don’t know what they’re doing? Come join the DOJ!”

"We are a sad people, without hats."
www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazi...

Absolutely! I think of writing as a relational social practice in which both parties' roles and positions are critical. Maybe a better example is recordings vs. live music: a recording can be great, but it can't be a great concert because you're not relating to the performers.

I think that technically makes it my first science-fiction story.

I think the questions entangle because "AI is good at writing" misunderstands what "writing" is. It's a social practice, a way of relating to people. "AI is good at writing" is like saying "AI is good at lovemaking." Machines may be good at some components of it, but not the practice itself.

As Kagan notes in her dissent, the Court opted not to hear the due process parental rights argument against bans on gender-affirming medical care in Skrmetti, basically setting up a regime where parents can force their trans children back into the closet but cannot help them out of it