Recognizing Our People My father was savvy in ways I wasn’t. || Kenneth Silber

Thoughts on family background. www.splicetoday.com/writing/reco...

How did the US run out of missiles in Iran? We spend $800-billion-a-year on defense—but the US stockpiles barely lasted through a six-week-war.

"How did the US run out of missiles in Iran?"

www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/how-did-th...

How far from humanity were the astronauts of Artemis II? The answer will surprise you Artemis II’s crew went farther from humanity than anyone has been before. Here’s how one scientist determined whom, specifically, they were farthest from

Now on @sciam.bsky.social: When the Artemis II crew became the "most distant humans ever" in last week's moon flyby, @planet4589.bsky.social wondered where the corresponding "farthest" humans were back here on Earth. Turns out they weren't on Earth at all!

www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...

The Weakness of “Strongmen” Humiliations from Hormuz to Hungary. || Kenneth Silber

If ever there was a failure of a US president to adequately prepare for war—constitutionally, strategically, and giving the public a coherent explanation, let alone inspiration to support it—the Iran War was it. www.splicetoday.com/politics-and...

French woman, 86, held by ICE after moving to US to marry 1950s sweetheart The family of Marie-Thérèse, from Brittany, fear for her health after she was cuffed and placed in a detention centre

“An 86-year-old French woman who moved to the US to marry her 1950s sweetheart is being held in a crowded detention centre in Louisiana after she was arrested by immigration agents and cuffed by her hands and feet.” www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

The Weakness of “Strongmen” Humiliations from Hormuz to Hungary. || Kenneth Silber

The Bible’s filled with warnings against hubris, but religious Zionism and Christian nationalism both downplay the implications of this source material. www.splicetoday.com/politics-and...

Trump lost his war on Iran, bigly His nonstop bullshitting can't change the facts on the ground.

Broadly agree with this by @nberlat.bsky.social: www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-lose...

The Weakness of “Strongmen” Humiliations from Hormuz to Hungary. || Kenneth Silber

www.splicetoday.com/politics-and... "The Weakness of 'Strongmen'."

The Weakness of “Strongmen” Humiliations from Hormuz to Hungary. || Kenneth Silber

www.splicetoday.com/politics-and... "The Weakness of 'Strongmen'."

Illiberalism Is Not Inevitable If Viktor Orbán can lose, then his Russian and American admirers can lose too.

Illiberalism is not Inevitable

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

MAGA and Putin bet big on Hungary's election. Will it pay off? - Salon.com JD Vance gets weird in Budapest as the far right's bromance with Viktor Orbán heads for the rocks

"If we were characters in a Dan Brown novel trying to decode the sinister machinery behind current events (and I’m not saying we’re not!), Hungary would be the overlooked puzzle piece that ties all the nefarious schemes together." www.salon.com/2026/04/12/m...

The Administration’s Foolish War on Basic Science Cutting funding for gravitational wave studies won’t save taxpayers much but will jeopardize future scientific breakthroughs

Background. www.theunpopulist.net/p/the-admini...

Destroying science is back on the agenda. www.scientificamerican.com/article/whit...

Opinion | He Was ‘Trump Before Trump.’ Now He’s in Trouble.

"Two weeks ago, he was heckled at one of his own rallies, a scene some compared to the pivotal moment when Romanians booed the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, who tried to flee the country the next day." www.nytimes.com/2026/04/11/o...

Opinion | He Was ‘Trump Before Trump.’ Now He’s in Trouble.

"Now Orban faces a possible rebuke from his own citizenry. And in a poetic coincidence, he’s faltering at the same moment that the intellectual vanguard of the MAGA movement is cracking up under the weight of Trump’s destructive, humiliating war in Iran." www.nytimes.com/2026/04/11/o...

Melania Throws Donald Under the Bus And just like that, the Epstein files are back in the news.

"The Iranian people were as close as they’d come since 1979 to overthrowing their torturers and oppressors. Then Trump got involved."

>"The Secretary of Culture Wars is waging an internal battle," they said, referring to Hegseth. "This can only accelerate the brain drain we're already seeing."< www.npr.org/2026/04/10/n...

The Iran War’s Winners and Losers Richard Haass assesses which countries gained the most from the US-Israeli campaign, and which are worse off.

Richard Haass assesses which countries gained the most from the US-Israeli campaign, and which are worse off.

America Needs to Impeach Trump For its Own Moral Health Even an unsuccessful effort will show that many Americans reject threats of genocide to win a war

Man, this is so good—and morally urgent—from @mattjj89.bsky.social in @theunpopulist.net

Share this one widely

Trump Surrenders to Iran Donald Trump started and now has lost a humiliating, illegal, and stupid war with Iran.

The ceasefire is on Iran's terms, promising to lift sanctions and accept Iran's control of Hormuz, and getting nothing.

So in this article I ask: is this America's worst loss ever? 1812 and Korea were more like draws. Vietnam and Afghanistan didn't make any big concessions to geopolitical rivals.

Maybe the Gulfies should have spent more on air defense and less on bribes and destroying freedom in the USA.

so this is interesting: a former prof of mine finds that the internet has become such an unreliable source of information that AI and access to the internet doesn't mean all his students do the same on open-book quizzes

This, in its own way, is as delusional and disastrous as his pledge to wipe out their civilization just yesterday.

Opinion | Trump desperately wants to claim victory over Iran — but the facts say otherwise Anthony L. Fisher: Iran’s ruling regime has not only survived, but Trump’s war may also make it an even wealthier and more influential regional power.

Consequences of folly. www.ms.now/opinion/trum...

Vignettes of England Contemplating history and politics on a Holy Week visit. || Kenneth Silber

Observations from a trip to England. www.splicetoday.com/writing/vign...

There’s a reason people read the classics.

America Lost. Iran Won. Trump Shat the Bed. America will leave Iran weaker; the Islamic Republic will be stronger.

"Iran becomes the first Middle Eastern regime to withstand a combined attempt at regime change from Israel and the United States." open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...

The US and Israeli Right’s Failure in Iran How nationalist populism led to a quagmire. || Kenneth Silber

I look at a lesson of the Iran War. www.splicetoday.com/politics-and...

The US and Israeli Right’s Failure in Iran How nationalist populism led to a quagmire. || Kenneth Silber

I look at a lesson of the Iran War. www.splicetoday.com/politics-and...

Trump Casts His Drama-of-the-Day Spell While the World Moves On I had a moment of insight or perhaps revelation early in this...

Trump Casts His Drama-of-the-Day Spell While the World Moves On talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump...