Something unusual has happened in the last few days. Trump's tariffs have whipsawed global financial markets. As of this writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (a measure of large US-based company stock prices) has fallen by more than 6,000 points – a total of 14.5% – since his
I’ve been busy with some personal stuff lately, so less active on the blog than I like. Things are settling down, though, and I hope to return to my weekly-or-so cadence here. There’s been plenty of action in the last couple of weeks — more legal residents disappeared, tariffs
On Monday this week, a group of senior officials in the Trump administration accidentally added a journalist to a chat group discussing attack plans in Yemen. It was a blindingly stupid and careless thing to do. All things considered, the reporter, Jeffrey Goldberg, handled it well – verifying authenticity and reporting
Two posts ago, I said I was worried about the Trump administration's attack on universities, but had more urgent things to write about. I want to return to that topic today. It's really important. Fundamental research in science pays enormous dividends to society. We're
This is a thing I need to hear. Maybe you do, too, so I'm gonna say it out loud: The good guys win. We're watching an autocracy act with impunity right now. The Executive branch ignores the Constitutional checks imposed by the courts. It's
The Trump administration comes at you fast. I planned this week to write about the widespread destruction of post-secondary education in the US. Top-flight research universities like Columbia, Berkeley and Harvard are targeted by investigations, advancing the MAGA agenda against "wokeness" and "DEI" and freedom of
Mahmoud Khalil Last Saturday, federal immigration agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a US legal resident who led anti-Israel protests at Columbia University in New York last year. It was a well-chosen opening move by a media-savvy administration, guaranteed to get saturation coverage on television and to go viral on social media.
Mike Masnick wrote an absolute banger of a column last Tuesday, explaining why Techdirt's editorial mission was changing. If you haven't read it, you should make time. Masnick's post has been percolating in my brain all week. He's right: If you came
I've spent some time thinking and talking to people about my post of Friday, on Zelenskyy's mugging in the Oval Office. Why would the administration so visibly abandon an ally fighting for its survival? Here's an argument that you could make. One geopolitical story
I had planned to write this week about the looming budget crisis in the US. The two Republican-dominated houses of Congress need to pass legislation to keep the government open. That will require an increase in the debt ceiling – a tough task for many MAGA fiscal hawks. It will also
I want to stake out some right-wing talking points and convince you that they're correct: Illegal immigration is a serious problem in the US, and our porous borders must be secured. The Center for Migration Studies (CMS) collects data from the US Census Bureau's annual American
Administrative note: At the request of a few of you, I'm turning on public comments for Not A Tech Bro. I do this with some trepidation. Up front, the rules are: Polite and constructive. Disagree if you like, but don't be a dick. No threats, no