On Hope, Free Will and the Bigger Picture or “All the Data Is Not Yet In” Or My One Hour and Nearly Sixteen Minutes of Fame :)

I’m famous now as I was interviewed on a podcast! 
Hahaha! Deets below:
 substack.com/home/post/p-...

Raw America (@rawstory) POWERFUL: A group of women and girls just protested in front of the Kennedy Center, wearing costumes that include snippets from the Epstein files — including allegations of Trump assaulting a 13 year-...

substack.com/@rawstory/no...

Ahmed Shihab-Eldin has apparently been detained in Kuwait after posting a video of a US Air Force fighter jet crash. His friends and allies went public about his case today, hoping publicity will help win his release. www.cnn.com/2026/04/14/w...

Opinion | Don’t Use A.I. to Do This

@colsonwhitehead.com making my day, putting it better than just about anybody so far. Thank god for the writers, the artists, the jokesters, the weirdos like us. Humanity sucks! Let's do the work, it's the only thing worth doing!

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/15/o...

(this skeet written by the Gooch)

What The Pitt Gets Right about Health Policy Foreshadowing the deadly consequences of Trump's Medicaid policies

New with @pamherd.bsky.social: While never mentioning Trump or political parties, the show’s second season offers an almost-real time commentary on how policy changes are affecting health.
Lets take one particular example of Medicaid coverage loss. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/what-the-p...

Yes, and the US originally stated agreement with Iran's position until Netanyahu's unilateral opposition.

Once upon a time, the "nation" as an entity upheld its treatises and other binding agreements that outlived a term of office. The current criminal in chief fails to recognize the rule of law, international or otherwise. Can we tease apart the "US" from its current figurehead? Can the world?

🤣

J'aime beaucoup l'expression "IDÉE ZOMBIE"...

Por supuesto que vamos a poner todos los recursos del estado al servicio de la gente para protegerles de una guerra, la de Irán, que no avala el Gobierno de España. Y le digo a la derecha y a la ultraderecha, le digo a la derecha y a la ultraderecha que no pueden estar apoyando a quien incendia el mundo y luego quejarse del humo que provoca ese incendio. No se puede sorber y soplar al mismo tiempo. Y que la medida que más vidas salva y menos dolorosa tenemos es que digan "no" a la guerra par que esta guerra acabe cuanto antes. Cuanto antes. --------- Of course we are going to put all the state’s resources at the service of the people to protect them from a war – the war in Iran – which the Spanish Government does not endorse. And I say to the right and the far right, I say to the right and the far right that they cannot support those who set the world alight and then complain about the smoke caused by that fire. You cannot have your cake and eat it too. And the measure that saves the most lives and causes the least suffering is for them to say ‘no’ to war so that this war ends as soon as possible. As soon as possible.

What we hear in the video does not match what you are saying at all.

Here are the Spanish Prime Minister’s exact words.

Abby Martin Went To Israel. IT'S WORSE Than You Think YouTube video by Double Down News

youtu.be/hLQbPCvV8W8?...

A quote from Kurt Vonnegut against a dark teal background. The text reads: 'That's the secret of artistic unity. Anybody can achieve it, if he or she will make something with only one person in mind.' – Kurt Vonnegut, The Paris Review' northseapoets.com. The North Sea Poets logo is in the bottom right corner.

– Kurt Vonnegut, The Paris Review

#NorthSeaPoets #CommonplaceBook #PoetrySky

www.democracydocket.com/opinion/thes...

So pro-life means jailing women who miscarry but shrugging when the deranged president says “a whole civilization will die tonight.” Do I have that right?

"You have to use it. You have to trust it.": Forced Adoption of AI is The Subtext of Davos Authoritarianism is the AI Bailout; But If AI Doesn't Need a Bailout, Does it Need Authoritarianism?

I watched a bunch of AI sessions at the WEF so you wouldn’t have to.

But you should read this.

America’s Future Is Hungary MAGA conservatives love Viktor Orbán. But he’s left his country corrupt, stagnant, and impoverished.

In honor of Vance's visit to Hungary, where he will campaign for Viktor Orban, I am reposting my article from last year. I argued that Orban's Hungary is one of the poorest countries, and certainly the most corrupt and least free country, in the entire EU.
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

Thanks to The Week Junior for including EUREKA this month

“That’s a Lie” ICE Whistleblower Slams Agency’s Violent Tactics YouTube video by SenatorBlumenthal

<< ICE’s training program is now deficient, defective, & broken—teaching recruits to violate the Constitution & endangering the lives of Americans. Ryan Schwank, a former ICE employee, shares powerful testimony. >>

youtube.com/shorts/mExAq...

The exterior building. It alone is absolutely stunning architecture, looking out at the bay and mountains

An artwork by Bill Reid, an indigenous Haida artist. The sculpture depicts a raven and the "first men". It is absolutely massive in person. A dome-shaped skylight illuminates it. It was the first major sculpture by a Pacific NW indigenous artist to be made in a more contemporary European style, albeit with many many strong parallels to Pacific NW art.

The main hall of the museum, showing a large collection of totem poles. All poles after 1958 were commissioned by the museum, prior ones from e.g. the potlatch ban days do not necessarily have such a positive history of acquisition. The room is huge, bright, and open.

An artwork and jug from an exhibit on peoples of the Andes (in modern-day Peru) that's dated at around ~2000 years old. It has many depictions of hummingbirds yet in a blocky, modern style by European art history standards. The exhibit is full of many more examples of incredible artistry from the region.

The Museum of Anthropology is an absolute must-visit if you are ever in Vancouver.

I have never seen so much indigenous art in one place, and especially not presented in a way that tries to center indigenous voices & history like this museum does. Also: the architecture is stunning.

A tender 17thC moment caught: two women teaching a child to walk c. 1635-1637, drawn by #Rembrandt (BM)

I like to post this image regularly.

Remember Descartes' great "I am"? Ai (I use a lower-case "i" intentionally) isn't doing that. It can't "think." It associates words by the probability of their proximity.

Full disclosure: "Drum machines have no soul" is an aphorism I heed as true due to growing up with an actual drummer: my dad.

Thank you for posting.

Representative Mike Thompson California 4th District

Map of the ME showing the two straits

Yemen’s Houthis have announced they’ll be joining the war in support of Iran shortly. Analysts expect them to shut down another strait, Bab El-Mandeb, which will close the Suez Canal. The global economy hangs by a thread.

The court acknowledged the destruction, danger and *grave* harm (my emphasis) that this transaction incurs. Isn't it their duty to stop it? The court claims, "and Plaintiffs have not raised any viable challenges to that decision" -- destruction, danger and grave harm would seem to be viable to me.

So per the document, the main reason they're going ahead is because Congress authorized it? Isn't he point of taking it to court to *curb* the actions of Congress and the President when they're stupid?