Wretchard.com

The influence of bits on the world of atoms, identifying people worth trusting, the origin of joy, the decoupling of the American Dream from the university, and more.

https://sotonye.substack.com/p/the-architecture-of-tomorrow-an-interview?r=d2gko&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&utm_source=copy&s=09

Donald Trump is out of the White House — and mostly gone from the public eye — but his grip on the G.O.P. base has probably never been stronger.

NYT

What Elise Stefanik’s Rise Means for the G.O.P.

We spoke with our congressional reporter Catie Edmondson about the young New York lawmaker in line to replace Liz Cheney.

The latest meme. Democracy is dying in America (perhaps true) but it’s the populist’s fault. They are forcing the progressives to be fascist. By casting the Other as monstrous racists it is psychologically possible to justify the reprehensible as necessity.

Analysis: The GOP’s devotion to Trump threatens to destroy American democracy

With its cultish devotion to Donald Trump, the majority of the Republican Party is choosing a wannabe-autocrat over the political system that made the United States the world’s most powerful nation and its dominant democracy.

Treasury officials on Wednesday urged Congress to pass either a new borrowing limit or another suspension of the debt before a July 31 deadline. The Treasury will continue to initiate the types of bookkeeping maneuvers it has used in the past to keep the government from breaching a level that would trigger a default on the massive national debt.

AP

https://apnews.com/article/financial-markets-national-debt-health-coronavirus-pandemic-government-and-politics-a95665cfc7fbd8504fc91fdb2a6eb861

Many active cases in tourism reliant country despite Sinovac vaccination.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-56992121

Organized crime unhappy Prinsloo made them look like clowns.

Leo Prinsloo, who foiled heist in Pretoria, under protective guard after death threats | News24

Cash-in-transit driver Leo Prinsloo and his family have been placed under protective guard.

Colonizing Mars with microorganisms

https://interestingengineering.com/fungus-growing-on-mars

We’re not in Kansas anymore.

https://nypost.com/2021/05/06/caitlyn-jenners-anti-newsom-ad-previews-big-challenge-for-dems/

I won’t blow smoke up your exhaust pipe because 2022 will be one tough election.

Between a media that relishes lying, to a corrupt court afraid of being mobbed at home, to a Democrat Party that will ruthlessly churn out fake votes like confetti for a tickertape parade, the game is stacked against Republicans

Don Surber

Don’t sugarcoat 2022

Starship lands successfully.

If political incorrectness is a disease it ought to ban itself.

https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/06/01/867200259/protests-over-racism-versus-risk-of-covid-i-wouldn-t-weigh-these-crises-separate?utm_campaign=npr&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_term=nprnews&s=09

The most important divorce in America today is not between Bill and Melinda Gates but within the political center. What held it together was the need to pay the national bills and the glue of residual shared culture.

Identity politics in Africa.

https://nypost.com/2021/05/04/ethiopia-at-a-crossroads-amid-spiraling-ethnic-conflict/

Bizarre photo showing giant Bidens beside miniature Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter keeps the Explainers busy.

About 300 students will get to sit at the ceremony, while their families cheer them on virtually. According to the school’s ceremony plans, family members — even the parents who helped pay the tuition — will not be allowed to sit in the stands. …

While the students will be sitting about six feet apart for the ceremony, they will not be allowed to physically walk up to get their diploma.

Caltech grads won’t be able to physically walk up to get diploma, families can’t sit on campus field

Family members will not be allowed to watch Caltech’s graduation in-person, according to the school’s ceremony plans.