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To fans and foes alike, he comes across as an outrageous yahoo, and he knows it, a Chick tract come to life for internet virality. (slLongreads, Harper's)
posted by Kitteh on Jul 18 at 5:25 AM - 16 comments

I said remove the squid.
posted by Alex404 on Jul 18 at 4:29 AM - 21 comments

This Might Hurt is a documentary about a revolution in the understanding and treatment of chronic pain that has been quietly brewing over the last few decades. We know that millions of people around the world suffer from chronic pain and other debilitating bodily symptoms. Medication (such as opioids) don't often help, or carry intolerable side effects, and traditional cognitive-based psychotherapy doesn't seem to fare well either. Can we do better? Increasing evidence accumulated over the last few decades suggests that focusing on hidden powerful emotions may make all the difference, at least for some people. It all dates back to an iconoclastic New York City physician named John Sarno, (NYT link, archive.today version here) whose mission to rid the world of back pain inspired a legacy of controversy and devotion. [more inside]
posted by greatgefilte on Jul 16 at 8:56 PM - 24 comments

Maia Kobabe, for The Nib, on the changing statements of the librarians who come to see em and talk about Gender Queer.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries on Jul 16 at 8:17 AM - 12 comments

One wonders if he could picture our current moment, when desire and expression are so ready-made, so undemanding and yet so effortlessly able to mollify and monopolize our attention. Open your streaming services—film, TV, music. The choices are overwhelming. Funny, then, that so much of it looks and feels the same, that every artist and writer and musician can tell of unproduced passion projects, that dissenting voices are so easily drowned out. Quantity drowns quality. That which exists is good; that which is good exists. What doesn’t exist is a challenge to this state of affairs. from The Last Avant-Garde [Alexander Billet reviews Dominique Routhier’s “With and Against: The Situationist International in the Age of Automation.” in the L.A. Review of Books; ungated]
posted by chavenet on Jul 17 at 12:21 AM - 6 comments

Plan is for term limits and amendment to overturn immunity ruling
posted by NotLost on Jul 16 at 6:48 PM - 95 comments

Following a bad performance in last week's Presidential Debate, Joe Biden finds his re-election campaign in serious trouble. Polls suggest that voters have serious doubts about his ability to do the job. A growing number of democratic officials and donors are pushing for him to exit the race, and possibly resign the Presidency including Senator Mark Warner and Abagail Disney (a Disney heir and democratic megadonor) . The Biden campaign has responded saying he is not dropping out and the President has attempted damage control with a series of public events including a radio interview on The Earl Ingram Show, a massive rally in Wisconsin, and a sit down interview with George Stephanopolis on ABC News that will air at 8 pm Eastern (the official ABC news site in this link is supposed to have a live stream). ABC news was originally going to air the interview in two parts, but has decided to air it unedited, in its entirety in Prime Time. With the convention weeks away and no way to hold a primary, Democrats seems to be focusing on VP Kamala Harris as Biden's possible replacement.
posted by interogative mood on Jul 5 at 2:03 PM - 1062 comments

Scrap Dragon is a delightful story by the wonderful Naomi Kritzer (previously). Both text and audio, so you can read or listen, courtesy of the Cast of Wonders podcast. Featuring the youngest of three daughters and a talking nutria. [more inside]
posted by kristi on Jul 18 at 8:13 AM - 4 comments

Making Hitler funny may be a break with the reverence Hitler demanded at gunpoint. But it also ends up being a way to give Hitler back his aesthetics and part of his glamor. When Downfall Hitler launches into an attack on road construction, it’s incongruous and absurd. But it’s also Hitler getting you to cheer along as he attacks the incompetence and inconvenience of a sclerotic democratic bureaucracy—and attacking sclerotic democratic bureaucracy is a thing that the real Hitler actually did. A dollop of humor makes the anti-establishment rage go down easy, not least because it distracts you from the fact that the “establishment” in question is just anyone the fascists decide to target. As the political scientist Jonathan Bernstein explains, “drain the swamp” is a successful slogan precisely because it’s a catchier way to say “liquidate our enemies.” from Fascists Know How to Turn Mockery Into Power [Foreign Policy, from 2020; ungated]
posted by chavenet on Jul 17 at 11:23 AM - 38 comments

"...on every call, in every meeting, in every action, women constitute 90% of the grassroots volunteer movement. If grassroots groups are the secret weapon of democracy, women are the not-so-secret weapon of grassroots groups." Why I remain hopeful about 2024. [more inside]
posted by kristi on Jul 12 at 8:29 AM - 12 comments

Riki Lindhome, American actress, comedian, and 1/2 of the musical duo Garfunkel and Oates (previously) has a request for her new baby: Don't Google Mommy. (SLYT)
posted by CheeseDigestsAll on Jul 18 at 8:05 AM - 13 comments

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon Dismisses Case Against Trump WASHINGTON (AP) — By ERIC TUCKER Updated 10:20 AM EDT, July 15, 2024 The federal judge presiding over the classified documents case of former President Donald Trump in Florida dismissed the prosecution on Monday, siding with defense lawyers who said the special counsel who filed the charges was illegally appointed. The decision by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon brings a stunning and abrupt conclusion to a criminal case that at the time it was filed was widely regarded as the most perilous of all the legal threats that the Republican former president confronted. Trump faced dozens of felony counts accusing him of illegally hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, and obstructing FBI efforts to get them back. [more inside]
posted by pjsky on Jul 15 at 7:31 AM - 176 comments

Exit polls for the 2nd round of the snap French legislative elections are in - and show the very welcome surprises of both the FN (extreme right of Le Pen) in third place and the NFP (left-green alliance) coming first. Live updates: BBC, Guardian, BFMTV (fr), FranceTVInfo (fr)
posted by protorp on Jul 7 at 11:24 AM - 86 comments

The A.V. Club kicks off a new A.V. Undercover with GWAR covering "I'm Just Ken"
posted by Kitteh on Jul 17 at 9:29 AM - 16 comments

The Gonster is a fusion (though not literally, if made right) of Guinness and Monster. The Every Sauce is a blend of 14 sauces. Someone has created a new frontier in Midwestern excellence. But have you ever mixed two (or more) drinks, or ingredients, or foods, and created something delicious? Or, perhaps not quite delicious? ... Or write about whatever is on your mind, in your heart, on your plate or in your journal, because this is your weekly free thread. [Most lastly-ist] Bonus: over on MetaTalk, you can stuff your cheeks with CakeTalk...
posted by Wordshore on Jul 15 at 12:00 AM - 93 comments

James David Vance, a junior United States senator from Ohio elected in 2022 and author of a 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, who has previously said in reference to Donald Trump, "I'm a never Trump guy", "never liked him", "terrible candidate", "idiot if you voted for him", "might be America's Hitler", "might be a cynical a-hole", "cultural heroin", "noxious", and "reprehensible", has just been announced as Trump's running mate for 2024.
posted by orange swan on Jul 15 at 12:37 PM - 227 comments

In the Washington Post, Joseph G. Allen argues that we should use wet bulb temperature to indicate how hot it is outside. [more inside]
posted by CMcG on Jul 16 at 7:26 PM - 32 comments

What if in addition to a traditional "Get Out the Vote" campaign, your work also created a stronger community? What if you could turn a bunch of stolen corrugated signs into a block party? In "How to Build a New World Locally", organizer Madeline Talbott describes a strategy of using dedicated volunteer precinct captains to GOTV for progressive candidates in Chicago. She provides an optimistic path for fighting fascism by working very locally. [more inside]
posted by tofu_crouton on Jul 18 at 6:00 AM - 9 comments

Priscila Barbosa was lured to Boston on a failed promise. With no realistic alternatives, she found her way into the dark side of the gig economy, taking on Uber, Lyft, Door Dash, and others. Hundreds of thousands of dollars later, the FBI found her. From WIRED. (long read) [more inside]
posted by hydra77 on Jul 17 at 7:58 AM - 12 comments