The dominant power in the Middle East from now on will not be the U.S. or Israel but Iran

The dominant power in the Middle East from now on will not be the U.S. or Israel but Iran

Robert Kagan writes: For years, Iran confronted a balance of power in the Middle East that tilted against it. The region was dominated by a hostile American superpower, a nuclear-armed and militarily superior Israel, and significant local actors—Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates—that were strategically and economically aligned with the United States. Today finds Iran in entirely new circumstances. It has gone head-to-head with the superpower and Israel, withstood a pounding from their most advanced weapons, and more than…

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Trump’s bullying of Canada is failing

Trump’s bullying of Canada is failing

David Frum writes: U.S.-Canada trade talks collapsed last night. Punitive Trump tariffs will now go into effect. Canada will reciprocate with retaliatory tariffs of its own. The story may not be over. Donald Trump is notorious for issuing threats, then reversing them. Wars are on, off, on again, off again, then on a third time—but only as a “little detour.” This is not an administration that thinks even one move ahead. But without a supersized Trump TACO, the U.S.-Canada impasse…

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Trump declares war on Canada because he’s a peevish, perverse, enraged child

Trump declares war on Canada because he’s a peevish, perverse, enraged child

Robert Reich writes: Not exactly a war, but a trade war — which will impose huge costs on both American consumers and on Canada. As I said, Trump is now completely and utterly out of his mind. The very idea of a trade war with Canada — our neighbor, our ally, our closest friend, a nation that’s peaceful and whose people have a reputation for kindness — is absurd. But Trump is doing it anyway. He’s imposing a 50 percent…

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Data centers ‘dug their own grave,’ says Texas Gov. Greg Abbott

Data centers ‘dug their own grave,’ says Texas Gov. Greg Abbott

Axios reports: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott delivered one of the starkest warnings yet from a Republican to the AI industry, saying data center companies “dug their own grave” and deserve the backlash they’re facing after failing to win community support. Why it matters: Abbott is the latest governor to sharply change course on the AI data center boom he once enthusiastically courted, as local opposition becomes a potent political force. Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who last year celebrated a $20 billion Amazon data center investment, imposed new restrictions this week….

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Stanford University’s dirty secrets, according to the student who exposed them

Stanford University’s dirty secrets, according to the student who exposed them

  How does a college freshman take down the president of Stanford University? Theo Baker became the youngest-ever recipient of the George Polk Award after exposing research misconduct tied to former Stanford president Marc Tessier-Lavigne. Now, in his new book How to Rule the World, Baker argues that the story goes far beyond one university leader—and reveals how Stanford became the training ground for Silicon Valley’s most powerful people. Kara and Theo discuss Stanford’s secretive power networks, the university’s no-boundaries…

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How Big Tech steers the public school system in the service of its commercial interests

How Big Tech steers the public school system in the service of its commercial interests

Natasha Singer writes: One humid afternoon in the summer of 2025, representatives from Microsoft were waiting as some 200 teachers trooped into a conference hall in downtown Manhattan. The educators were there for a workshop on the school technology of the moment: artificial intelligence chatbots. The Microsoft team gave a presentation on their Copilot chatbot and asked the teachers to practice using it for tasks like generating emails to parents and customizing lesson plans. Microsoft instructors also screened an A.I….

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The fungi in the ocean may be way more important than we realized

The fungi in the ocean may be way more important than we realized

Science Alert reports: Hidden inside tree trunks, between grains of soil, deep within our bodies, and below our feet, fungi seem to wind their way into everything. But did you know fungi actually live in the ocean, too? New research published in PLOS Biology reveals the overlooked role of marine fungi in the carbon cycle by zooming in on the seawater and sediments that line an Arctic fjord in Norway. We’re only just starting to understand how widespread fungi are…

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The rise of the Nerd Reich

The rise of the Nerd Reich

  In part one of a series on the rise and power of the tech oligarchs, Sidney Blumenthal and Sean Wilentz speak up with Gil Duran, author of “The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy,” on the origins of techno-authoritarianism, its hallucinatory fascist theorists, the central role of Peter Thiel and his PayPal Mafia, and how they merge with Donald Trump and his MAGA movement.

The Nerd Reich in power

The Nerd Reich in power

  In part two of a series on the rise and power of the tech oligarchs, Sidney Blumenthal and Sean Wilentz interview Gil Duran, author of “The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy,” on how Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, and the tech oligarchs came to power under Donald Trump, how they control key parts of his administration, and how they created JD Vance, made him vice president and plan to make him president.

Technofascism: This Palantir billionaire’s passion project is criminalizing homelessness

Technofascism: This Palantir billionaire’s passion project is criminalizing homelessness

Mother Jones reports: Joe Lonsdale, co-founder of the weapons-tech company Palantir, is also a major force behind the Trump administration’s policy of pushing unhoused people toward incarceration. Lonsdale, a longtime critic of “housing first” policy—which proposes that homelessness be solved by supplying those in need of housing with somewhere to live—argues that fining and arresting people for sleeping in public will push them into mental health treatment. “We’ve made it easier to civilly commit those who are mentally ill and…

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Mike Rogers-AIPAC rupture roils Michigan Senate race

Mike Rogers-AIPAC rupture roils Michigan Senate race

Axios reports: Allies of Mike Rogers, Michigan’s GOP nominee for the U.S. Senate, have asked AIPAC not to advertise on his behalf, triggering a rupture with the powerful but polarizing pro-Israel group. Rogers spoke with AIPAC chair Michael Tuchin in Los Angeles last week. The next day, AIPAC shelved an already-cut video ad targeting Rogers’ Democratic rival, outspoken Israel critic Abdul El-Sayed. Why it matters: The extraordinary tension underscores how far AIPAC’s political standing has fallen amid voters’ anger over the war in Gaza….

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Ankle monitors leave Haitians in Ohio feeling shaken and shackled

Ankle monitors leave Haitians in Ohio feeling shaken and shackled

The New York Times reports: Before dawn on Wednesday, Jonas Julien waited in the darkness of his Springfield, Ohio, home for his ride to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office about an hour away. The 35-year-old Haitian immigrant had completed another grueling 12-hour shift at 3:30 a.m. After a quick bite and shower, he had stretched on the couch to avoid waking his wife and their 2-month-old daughter. But sleep never came. “I don’t know what awaits me, and I…

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Under Trump, protected wild horses are going to slaughter

Under Trump, protected wild horses are going to slaughter

The New York Times reports: They once had run free through the desert mountains of the West, a multicolored band of 68 wild mustangs that had never been saddled or corralled. Then the federal government rounded them up with helicopters, as it has with tens of thousands of other mustangs, in an attempt to control wild populations on public lands. The horses were held for years in a feed lot in Idaho while the government tried to find them what…

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Humans have used fire far longer than anyone realized

Humans have used fire far longer than anyone realized

Science News reports: A cave in Africa seems to host the oldest known traces of humans using fire. Burnt remnants of animal bones hint that groups of Homo erectus used fires here as long as 1.8 million years ago. The site is known as Wonderwerk Cave. It’s in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. The oldest previously known traces of our early relatives using fire also came from there. Those dated to about 1 million years ago. The new…

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