uspolitics

links, etc American Kakistocracy the atlantic’s considered take on how trump’s grafting wrong. Berlusconi’s shortcomings helped fuel his success, but he wasn’t proud of them. Trump wears his flaws like medals, and is appointing people to his coming administration who have the same attitude. Berlusconi would never have allowed the equivalent of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. near Italy’s department of health. An Italian Matt Gaetz would have been considered for a reality show on one of Berlusconi’s TV channels, at most....

links, etc Trust in scientists hasn’t recovered from COVID. Some humility could help. - Ars Technica some humility and empathy from the “in this house we believe in science” households might be warranted here as well.

notes bookshop link this was a disturbingly current read. it’s reasonably fresh off the press and i wrapped it up a couple of days before the election. it’s an exhaustively researched and referenced work that digs into the politically charged battles over education and the desire to create a glossy, positive history from those on the right. there’s a lot to unpack in this book despite it’s pretty short length. it ranges from discussing the german repackaging of history pre-WW2 to florida’s book bans and dismantling of their instutuions of higher education....

links, etc How to research geoengineering ethically - Ars Technica we’re going to need to have some serious discussions about geoengineering. the over emphasis on carbon reduction was misplaced and has cost us dearly. if this is (and i think it is) the existential crisis we think it is, there should be no tool take off the table here. (yeah, this includes nuclear power.) ‘Stop Counting Votes, or We’re Going to Murder Your Children’ - The Atlantic...

links, etc in any other time, it strikes me that we’d be looking very much askance at the notion of a billionaire owning so much infrastructure that we’re increasingly collectively dependent upon. that the billionaire in question has exhibited so little regard for core western values has been (but shouldn’t be) shocking to me. that he seems to see himself as an agent independent of the government of his country of citizenship should make a lot of brows furrow....