Gonna start an AI band called Ellie Lem & the Em-Dashes

It's not just one thing — it's another thing | TechCrunch This sentence construction ("It's not just this — it's that") has become so common in AI-generated writing that it's no longer just a clue that a piece of writing may be synthetic — it's almost a guar...

This isn’t just interesting journalism—it’s also clever, self-referential writing. techcrunch.com/2026/04/20/a...

I see a million tech moguls complaining that media coverage has become "anti-tech" like some kind of spontaneous vibe shift, and regrettably few wondering if, maybe, the issue is that a bunch of the tech industry became less worthy of being positive about over the past several years.

Closeup photo of a pink magnolia flower with a front lawn blurred in the background.

It has begun.

I’m Canadian and the prevailing sentiment is that electing Trump once was an unfortunate aberration of the Electoral College.

But electing him a second time, after COVID and the Insurrection?

Most Americans don’t appreciate how much of a rupture that was. America is no longer safe or trustworthy.

“In the beginning, there was Jack, and Jack had a groove. And from this groove came the groove of all grooves, and while one day viciously throwing down on his box, Jack boldy declared,
‘Let there be HOUSE!’ and house music was born.“

–The Gospel According to Chuck Roberts

The replies are >chef’s kiss<

The US is still too big to ignore, but wherever possible, the rest of the world has already begun, to borrow an expression from John Gilmore, to interpret the US as damage and route around it.

The thing where voters don't believe republican policies could be as evil as they are apparently extends to the republicans actually in charge of the government just mindlessly implementing them

Why Hungary Matters Six big-picture conclusions from Orbán’s smashing defeat – and what it all means for the transnational struggle against rightwing authoritarianism

It is a difficult challenge to strike the right balance between articulating clearly that liberal democracy is under acute threat – and needlessly perpetuating the Far Right’s assertions of strength and dominance.

As Orbán found out on Sunday: Nothing about these people is inevitable.

More here:

There is a risk that these ubiquitous crisis discourses might turn into self-fulfilling prophecies that only help the extremists. Because those on the Far Right want us to believe that their triumph is inevitable, that resistance is ultimately futile.

Why Hungary Matters Six big-picture conclusions from Orbán’s smashing defeat – and what it all means for the transnational struggle against rightwing authoritarianism

Six big-picture conclusions from Orbán’s smashing defeat – and what it all means for the transnational struggle against rightwing authoritarianism.

I wrote about why Hungary matters – and why nothing about rightwing authoritarianism is inevitable.

Some thoughts from my new piece:

🧵

April 13, 2026 On April 12, the day of Hungary’s parliamentary elections, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) posted on social media that it was closely watching the election and stood firmly behind ...

“Just as there is a blueprint for destroying democracy, there is also one for rebuilding it.”

Somewhere in the buffet tables of Mar-A-Lago / A shape with walrus body and the head of a Sumo mandarin / For some reason gazing blankly at a solar eclipse

Since Trump became US president again, voters around the world have rejected the Trump-aligned party in Canada, Australia, Romania, Hungary, and arguably France.

Nothing like seeing right-wing authoritarians wielding actual power to remind voters that their populist message is a scam.

A cartoon duck holds a gun to his own head. The caption reads, “Don’t shoot or the idiot gets it”.

Trump reacts to the failed ceasefire talks with Iran by ordering his own blockade on the Strait of Hormuz

i firmly believe that kennedy wants preventable diseases to rip through american communities since, in his warped mind, those who survive without vaccines will have proven themselves “healthy.”

Echoes of the Gilets Jaunes, perhaps? The movement started out as a populist reaction to rising inequality but slowly curdled into right-wing opposition to tax policy - especially in its Canadian iteration, which later mutated into the anti-climate, fascist Convoy that occupied Ottawa for a month.

“The justice minister, Jim O’Callaghan, said “outside actors”, such as the British far-right activist Tommy Robinson, were manipulating the protests for their own agenda.”

Fuel-price protests cause chaos in Ireland and spread to Norway Hauliers and farmers block motorways and bring parts of Dublin to a standstill in fourth day of action

It’s a bitter irony that when far-right authoritarians recklessly disrupt the global economy, one of the knock-on effects is to embolden other far-right authoritarians to exploit the disruption in order to destabilize their own countries even further.

The US and Iran have conflicting versions of the ceasefire terms. But even Trump’s version of the deal is considerably worse than the terms of the JCPOA that Trump tore up in 2018.

Trump’s prosecution of his war against Iran has been both a moral catastrophe and a strategic disaster.

3/3. No matter what else is going on, the one predictable thing about any Trump policy is that he will find a way to prop up Putin and his fascist regime.

This entire thread is a freaking masterpiece. I could have quote-posted any of at least a dozen absolute bangers along the way, but please do yourself a favour, jump to the start and enjoy the full ride!

Oil is as volatile as it is in part because the supply is so brittle and vulnerable. The Pax Americana that Trump so resented provided the very stability that allowed for an oil based economy for so long. Trump may well have the unintended effect of accelerating the transition to renewable energy.

[alt text by NASA] The Moon, seen here backlit by the Sun during a solar eclipse on April 6, 2026, is photographed by one of the cameras on the Orion spacecraft’s solar array wings. Orion is visible in the foreground on the left. Earth is reflecting sunlight at the left edge of the Moon, which is slightly brighter than the rest of the disk. The bright spot visible just below the Moon’s bottom right edge is Saturn. Beyond that, the bright spot at the right edge of the image is Mars. Credit: NASA

Whoa 🤯

The Moon, in full eclipse, with the #Artemis II Orion spacecraft. Part of the Moon and spacecraft are lit by Earthshine, and both Saturn and Mars are visible to the lower right. Incredible. Details: images.nasa.gov/details/art0...

We’re already well past the point where renewables+batteries is cheaper, faster and better at power generation than fossil fuels. Last year, 90% of all new power generation globally - some 800 gigawatts - was renewable+battery. In a free market, it’s already game over.

The Nail Test: Why this $54 billion innovation is terrifying Western auto executives — Fast Company BYD says it’s fixed yet another major problem with EVs. BYD’s second-generation of the Blade Battery are on display during the launch event on March 5, 2026 in Shenzhen, China. The nail is six inches ...

“I walked into this building expecting to see electric cars. I walked out understanding why the global auto industry is running out of time to respond.”

Can we stop assuming Trump even has the power to decide when to end the Iran War? Wars are easy to start but hard to stop, and both Iran and Israel may have their own ideas about what happens next. For example, if Israel continues to bomb Iran, the US will continue to be a target of retaliation.

But the only sensible response to this geopolitical oil crisis is to accelerate our shift to renewable energy and reduce our exposure to price shocks triggered by reckless authoritarians.

The sooner we shake off our oil addiction, the faster we drain these fascists of their power and influence. 3/3

In Canada, where the oil industry has distorted our politics in deeply unhealthy ways, Conservatives are using the oil shock caused by a fossil fuel authoritarian as their latest excuse for why the federal government should roll back the industrial carbon price. 2/