AND NOW THE NEWS
#522
MAY 27, 2025
a twice-weekly news & meme round-up,
usually on Tuesdays and Saturdays
Trump and his gang are piling outrage atop outrage, and where’s the limit? We’ve seen no human decency among the lot of them, so it’s hard to imagine any of them feel any constraints at all.
Here in Seattle, the cops rioted at a mid-size protest a few days ago, lightly beating up and then arresting 23 people. I wasn’t there, but by all accounts except the cops’, the cops were the aggressors — which is what usually happens when protests stop being peaceful.
All the ugliness is leading toward something even uglier. I’m not even sure what, but it’s going to be ugly, so…
TO HELL WITH HEALTH AND EDUCATION
New COVID-19 variant spreads rapidly in the US, experts warn
For context, let’s time travel back a week:
Under RFK Jr., COVID shots will only be available to people 65+, high-risk groups
Excerpt: Moving forward, if a vaccine maker wants to have their COVID-19 vaccine also approved for use in healthy children and healthy adults under age 65, they will have to conduct large, randomized, placebo-controlled studies. These may need to include tens of thousands of participants, especially with high levels of immunity in the population now. These trials can easily cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and they can take many months to complete. The requirement for such trials will make it difficult, if not impossible, for drug makers to conduct them each year and within a time frame that will allow for seasonal shots to complete the trial, get regulatory approval, and be produced at scale in time for the start of the respiratory virus season.
Trump orders agencies to cut all federal ties with Harvard
GIVE US YOUR TIRED, YOUR POOR, YOUR HUDDLED MASSES YEARNING TO BREATHE FREE, SO WE CAN IMPRISON THEM
Trump administration orders US embassies to stop student visa interviews
This is a knife held to the throat, for the foreign students, yes, but much more for the universities that count on having those students.
And like most of the damage Trump is gleefully doing, the orders can eventually be un-done, but the damage can’t be. Kids all over the world are hoping and planning to study at UK and French and Spanish schools, and never coming to America.
Homeland Security defies court orders, engages in more human trafficking
GOOD NEWS
It’s grand, seriously, that one of the country’s top law firms now might be safe from Trump. Too bad about the rest of us.
BACK TO THE BAD NEWS
Utah study on trans youth care extremely inconvenient for politicians who ordered it
These colleges are closing their women’s and LGBTQ+ centers
346 people killed, but nobody at Boeing faces prosecution
Teacher asks what first graders want to be once child labor laws repealed
FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF DYSTOPIA
Texas Republican lawmakers take aim at sex toy sales
Trump shares his own experiences as victim of white genocide
EYE ON AI
Here’s something I’ve just seen for the first time: “This blog post was authored with the assistance of AI.” I’ve removed that blog from my surf cycle, but wonder how many sites won’t even tell you.
AI is rotting your brain and making you stupid
Excerpt: I don’t want to get all wishy-washy here, but these are the brass tacks we are ultimately falling on. What does it feel like to think? What does it feel like to be creative? What does it feel like to understand something?
MY BROWSER HISTORY, MINUS THE PORN
The grim timeliness of “Noir and the Blacklist”
What every browser knows about you
Want to end school shootings? Let’s just arm the kids.
American police are out of control — 5/21/2025
Ignoring the climate emergency — 5/26/2025
The Lord works in mysterious ways — 5/23/2025
And that’s the way it is,
and nothing will
meaningfully improve
until billionaires fear for their lives
5/27/2025
Logo illustration by Jeff Meyer. Tip ‘o the hat to the Anderson Valley Advertiser, Bleepity-Bleep, Lorem Ipsum Dolor, Mitchipedia, Sloth Unleashed, Toad’s Lily Pad, Voenix Rising, and anywhere else I’ve stolen links, illustrations, or inspiration.
Special thanks to Linden Arden, Becky Jo, Joey Jo Jo emeritus, Jeff Meyer, John the Basket, Dave S, Name Withheld, and always extra special thanks to my lovely late Stephanie, who gave me 21 years and proved that the world isn’t always shitty.
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