October 2024
Thursday, 31 October 2024
A second Trump term comes with unacceptable risks
The Economist: “Politics could yet wreck the foundations of America’s prosperity.”
Monday, 28 October 2024
‘The guardrails are gone’: Full throttle as Europe tries to Trump-proof itself
Louise Nordstrom, France 24: “‘You don’t have to pull out of the Alliance [to make it inefficient],’ Winberg said. ‘It’s enough for Trump to openly say that he’s not going to honour the commitment anymore. In practice, that’s the same thing as pulling out, and as president he would have authority to do that.’”
Sunday, 27 October 2024
Oops, Scientists May Have Miscalculated Our Global Warming Timeline
Darren Orf: “Unfortunately, even if the sponges are wrong, there’s mounting evidence that we are in the process of crossing that 1.5 degree threshold as we speak.”
Saturday, 26 October 2024
On political endorsement
William Lewis, The Washington Post: “Democracy Dies in Darkness”
Also: Post columnists respond
UPDATE:
- Refusing to endorse a candidate, The Post wounds itself
- The Post endorses no one for president
- For The Post, the wrong choice at the worst possible time
- It has fallen to me, the humor columnist, to endorse Harris for president
UPDATE 2:
Michael Sainato, The Guardian: “‘Trump waited to make sure that Bezos did what he said he was going to do – and then met with the Blue Origin people,’ Kagan told the Daily Beast on Saturday. ‘Which tells us that there was an actual deal made, meaning that Bezos communicated, or through his people, communicated directly with Trump, and they set up this quid pro quo.’”
Tuesday, 22 October 2024
… Cartoon Dogs Sending Trucks, Drones, and Weapons to Ukraine’s Front Lines
David Gilbert, Wired: “‘This war will be won by drones, and NATO procurement is from the stone age.’”
Wednesday, 16 October 2024
Steve Bannon Has Called His “Army” to Do Battle—No Matter Who Wins in November
James Pogue, Vanity Fair - I think this is the best piece I’ve read about this moment in America.
Saturday, 5 October 2024
Make-work is not the future of work
Noah Smith: “Stasis looks free in the short term, and it makes some people feel like the world is safer and more predictable, but, it eventually makes the economy poorer.”
Friday, 4 October 2024
China Used to be a One-Way Street of Happiness and Rising Prosperity, But That’s Over Now
Mark Dittli, The Market: “40 years is long enough to erode the memories of many people. But what is very important is that Xi always says what he thinks. He has always done that, but for a long time it was not noticed in the Western world.”
Thursday, 3 October 2024
The iPhone 16 Pro Camera Review: Control
Sebastiaan de With: “Recall the introduction of the iPhone as a phone, an internet communicator, and an iPod. Notably lacking? The camera. This iPhone is a camera. Maybe the first, if you were to define a camera as a device that has dedicated control for it.”
Tuesday, 1 October 2024
The Abandonment of Ukraine
Karl Marlantes and Elliot Ackerman, The Atlantic: “Achilles made his appeal with an urgency that American policy makers don’t seem to share. The speed of innovation on the battlefield has made some long-awaited Western weapons systems all but obsolete by the time they were delivered.”