I don’t understand what Infantino gets out of this relationship. He gives Trump a made-up “FIFA Peace Prize,” poses at every turn for photos with him and now meddles in game calls. I see what Trump is getting out of the deal. What about Infantino? Is adjacency to power, no matter how corrupt and incompetent that valuable?
Whether the call was in error or not, the casual and fawning relationship between Infantino and Trump will forever cast a shadow over this World Cup. If Trump was already worried about the hostile reception that would await him should he attend a match, he can now be certain of it.
In some cases, even just bringing a 24K gold desk ornament to the WH is enough; but I suspect these tributes to Dear Leader are subject to inflation, possibly exponentially so.
The judge in these cases, Reed O’Connor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas has a history of hard right decisions that are overturned on appeal. I don’t know what the options are for these protesters; but I imagine they stand a reasonable chance on appeal.
These companies have elevated himself. The entirety of civilization is an open question.
The antipathy that many have towards Musk relates more to moral concerns centring on his plainly neo-nazi leanings. I don’t want one of his civilization-elevating cars, for example, because I don’t care to align, even tangentially, with abhorrent views.
> it's not Americas job to take care of the rest of the world.
No, it’s not. But suggest you read about the role of “soft power” in diplomacy. The current administration seems to believe that only force, threats of force, and coercion can extend and maintain U.S. influence. But they are quickly learning the limits of this “strategy.”
> What did they expect would happen? Trump to just continue funding these people that hate him?
Never before in my recollection has U.S. national science policy been tied so closely tied to personal fealty to the president. It is alarming that you see nothing wrong with the connecting science funding to political alignment. This is highly aberrant.
In any case, if a majority of academics despise Trump and lean leftward overall, then maybe it would be a moment for self-identifying Republicans to gaze into the mirror and see what might be the reasons for this. As an academic, I have a commitment to the truth. This administration has no such commitment. This has been thoroughly documented.
> I've got kids, I want people creating start ups they can work in, the alternative is too grim.
I also have kids. I want them to live in a just society where billionaires, whom Mr. Graham proudly grooms, according to his telling of the matter, don’t actively undermine the ability of ordinary citizens to earn a living wage, to have a say in self-governance, and to enjoy universal healthcare.
Bessent is really smart? It’s possible he may be; but he communicates so poorly, that unless you knew anything of his background (I do not.) then it would be hard to assess. If he understands anything about monetary policy, apart from personal enrichment - which of course is a given in this administration, one couldn’t discern that from his public utterances.
The Citizens United decision virtually ensures that the average voter, even in aggregate, has nothing important to say. Shortly, one particular U.S. citizen will have a net worth of $1T; and this, more than anything will ensure that “We the People” are only noise, compared to the real signal.
I suppose in some sense ICE is a law enforcement group; but witnessing their wanton behaviour in Minneapolis, ramming vehicles, breaking into homes without a warrant, use of disproportionately deadly force, … it’s a stretch to imagine that one is interfering with “the good guys” who should otherwise be serving the law with care and restraint. Neither of the citizens murdered in Minneapolis were interfering with law enforcement, at least as I define “law enforcement” and “interfere.”
I’m a progressive voter and my waning interest in gun control is that it’s a political nonstarter. But I’m sure there are fellow progressives that are reasoning in the way you suggest.
In any case, if the majority of the “prevent Federal overreach” 2A crowd truly believed in that principle, then I would have expected thousands of armed citizens in Minnesota repelling the extrajudicial abuses taking place there.
However, the Second Amendment begins with a qualifying clause which many including notable national gun-rights organizations choose to ignore. In any case, I’m not sure that has worked out as well as Madison thought. A sizeable percentage of the armed populace may actually be cheering the feared Federal overreach.
> we find that a socially optimal level of ownership is often greater than zero
I suppose one could model this in some way. But as a pacifist, vegan and never owner of firearms, I’m genuinely clueless as to how this could be. Is the social optimality here a function possessing weapons for hunting, which can be a social activity?
It’s not just students; this affliction is cropping up among established academics. My wife is editor-in-chief of a journal and in some months has rejected 100% of the letters to the editor including 6 that came in from a single author because all scored 1.0 certainty of complete LLM fabrication. The author in question is no student. It’s a little more difficult to fabricate an entire original paper this way, I suppose.
It will have taken us less than 1000 years to go from scarcity of the printed word to the over-abundance, and finally to the uselessness of it.
I practiced medicine in the U.S. and am now retired. This is such a complicated problem, not insoluble; and I would not want to explain away failures of the system.
I spent the majority of my career at a major tertiary referral center. One patient sent to me had all the signs and symptoms of Beçhet’s disease. To me it was obvious; but putting myself in the shoes of the rural primary care physician, who has never seen a case, I can imagine the constellation of presenting signs and symptoms would have been just a muddle. I can think of perhaps hundreds of similar cases.
I’m sure I missed important findings in my career. I know it. Much of what is missing nowadays is the time to listen deeply to what the patient is telling you and to think about it. If you have even rudimentary medical knowledge + time + humility and a willingness to constantly revisit the diagnosis, any doctor will do OK. But it’s a tall order in 2026. I’m grateful to have practiced at an institution that afforded me the time to listen and think. I gather that many physicians now are suffering from exhaustion of curiosity and maybe empathy.
I used a 33C in HS and college. Finally in med school during my diversion into the lab, something happened to the little bubble display. And had to upgrade to an 11C.
The beauty of an RPN calculator was that nobody asked to borrow it.
Given that the people being rounded up in extrajudicial raids and held in deplorable conditions are actual humans with feelings, families, friends, memories, communities, how can emotion not be at the centre? Yes, policy must be considered. But the main design consideration here seems to be inflicting terror.
The current administration has shown no willingness to step back and think this through in the systematic way you suggest.
I’m not sure he ever stopped golfing. But yes, getting back to some other distraction, an expensive one, no doubt - I’m sure that would ease his mind considerably.