Look, maybe not *all* ICE and CBP agents are bloodthirsty psychopaths, but there are plenty of stories like this one and the rest of them sure as shit don't seem to mind, so ...

Also lying:
- your own eyes
- every bit of video evidence
- the fabric of reality itself

Shared courtesy of my Penn History colleague, Ben Nathans

Major cities folding this fast is not a good look

New "Star Trek: Starfleet Academy" trailer debuts at NYCC. Also: our first look at S4 of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds." arstechnica.com/culture/2025...

This is infuriating. She excuses the orders as "preliminary," but that's an argument for applying settled law or preserving the status quo. Allowing POTUS to disregard Congressional appropriations and fire independent agency heads are neither, they're a radical restructuring of Constitutional order.

Finally realized what the freakout over Mamdani becoming mayor reminded me of, and it's the freakout over the first black mayors in southern cities.

New post at CAMPAIGN TRAILS:

Top marks for this diorama from The Fram Museum. it has a theodolite and huskies (two dogs are toppled, which merely hints at their fates).

“Public health isn’t a luxury — it’s a core function of government,” said former Health and Human Services secretary Xavier Becerra. “This hollowing out of expertise could leave us dangerously exposed.”

From our August story:

Keaton in “Godfather” “helped us see the Corleones as both fascinating and repellent” — right down to the final shot, where “the door swings shut in front of her, obscuring her like a closing tomb.”

@nytimes.com
@manohladargis.bsky.social

#RIP 💔
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/12/m...

How to Make Rope the Old-Fashioned Way, using a very simple hand-cranked machine. “It’s amazing what you can do with just a simple machine that cleverly leverages the laws of physics.” [kottke.org]

they are staging an “all-american halftime show” to counter bad bunny’s… what? his un-americanness? uh. guys. BAD BUNNY IS AN AMERICAN. PUERTO RICANS ARE US CITIZENS, YOU IGNORANT, INCURIOUS, JACKASSES.

“WHOAH! Be careful not to step in that pile of shit there!” exclaimed the man pulling his pants back up.

The Indictment of Letitia James and the Collapse of Impartial Justice. The question raised by the prosecution of James is: would any other federal prosecutor have brought this case against any other defendant? The answer seems to be no. www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...

Diane Keaton Tributes: Robert De Niro, Jane Fonda, Steve Martin & More Remember “Brilliant, Beautiful, Extraordinary” Actress: “Diane Was Magic” deadline.com/2025/10/dian...

13 stunning and award-winning black and white photographs www.popsci.com/environment/...

VFX Artist Reveals the Hidden Yet Innovative Visual Effects in ‘Star Wars’ and Other SciFi Movies laughingsquid.com/hidden-vfx-s...

This is such a clever idea on taking kids to museums/galleries
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Can’t come up with something to say that does full justice to just how much Diane Keaton meant to me. A true iconoclast who somehow also seemed so down to earth and genuinely kind, this smart, fearless actor could do anything - and she could make it look so easy! She’ll be missed. 💔

Thankfully, some of yesterday's CDC firings have been rescinded.

But this should be a major scandal, not business as usual in this shitshow of an administration. It's either spectacular incompetence or an effort to make even politically untouchable positions feel precarious to those in them.

One great aspect of iconic inflatable costumes (aside from how they instantly undermine propaganda about war zones) is that it's useless to arrest the person wearing one. Cuffing a frog would make law enforcement look pathetic. And carting one off just guarantees that more will show up the next day.

They’re restoring monuments to the Confederacy while monuments to freedmen are vandalized.

All We Ever Wanted — Shaun Tan, 2017