Society

Here I go again, streaming my conscious self, and speaking to you in the form of my written confession. I am here to reveal myself. Or perhaps I am only thinking once more, out loud, and with no li…

President Trump’s decision to strike Iran has sparked debate in Congress over the executive branch’s ability to take military action without authorization. The strikes Trump ordered last week were in line with recent precedent. But some critics and supporters alike are calling for restrictions to his ability to take further action in Iran. House Speaker Mike Johnson called the debate ill-timed, and openly questioned the constitutionality of the War Powers Act. That act requires the president to seek Congressional approval before declarations of war. Is this another battleground in the fight over legislative checks and balances?Trump’s assistance with a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Iran led to a warm reception at a NATO security summit later in the week. The summit was planned to discuss the war in Ukraine, the conflict between Israel and Iran, and other alliance concerns. Much of the focus landed on the ceasefire and an agreement by members to commit 5% of their GDP to defense. The new spending mark was seen as a major concession to Trump, who had threatened since his first term to leave the alliance if it wasn’t met. But was the decision made more for self-preservation than appeasement?Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist, won the Democratic primary in New York City’s mayoral race. Progressives are pointing to his victory as a beacon for Democrats nationwide to push further to the left. Does that ignore the fact that he ran against the scandal-ridden former governor Andrew Cuomo?

Back in the days, before child labor laws were introduced and before it became conventional wisdom that no young person could develop proper character

Above, Joe Rogan raises a point of contention about climate change, pretending to have read about a study in The Washington Post that, he says, raises questions about human caused climate change.In…

July 1, 2025

From supermarkets to cafés and public transportation, everyday payments are made using WeChat or Alipay, two apps that have become essential to daily life in the country.

In defense circles, “cutting” the Pentagon budget has once again become a topic of conversation.  Americans should not confuse that talk with reality.  Any cuts exacted will at most reduce the rate of growth.  The

In 2019, President Trump tweeted: "I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies." Today, the Trumps are all over crypto.There are memecoins for Trump and the first lady. They own a stablecoin, a bitcoin mining operation, and a crypto financial services company. And, at the Bitcoin 2025 conference, Trump's media group announced they're raising 2.5 billion dollars from investors to buy bitcoin.At that same conference, speakers included two White House advisors, two sons of the US president, the son of the U.S. Commerce Secretary, and a Trump appointee to the Securities and Exchange Commission. For a cryptocurrency built on independence from big government, this was a swerve.So, what happens when the President of the United States showers his love on the crypto community ... while also becoming a crypto entrepreneur himself? We follow along as Trump Inc.'s Ilya Marritz and Andrea Bernstein spend three days at the Las Vegas conference center where convicts are cheered, oversight and regulation are booed, and the separation of crypto and state no longer applies.Find more Planet Money: Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.Listen free at these links: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.

Have you ever heard Sam Altman speak? I’m serious, have you ever heard this man say words from his mouth?  Here is but one of the trenchant insights from Sam Altman in his agonizing 37-minute-long podcast conversation with his brother Jack Altman from last week: “I think there will

The Uncontained Ego of the Titans of Tech

Today's main thing is about my recent trip to visit family in the suburbs of Atlanta. Did I manage to somehow shut the fuck up the whole time? Did I have an existential crisis in the airport? Well let's find out down below. I may have mentioned that my next

Last fall, I published a New Yorker essay titled, “What Kind of Writer is ChatGPT?”. My goal for the piece was to better understand how ... Read more

Dave Winer, OG blogger, podcaster, developed first apps in many categories. Old enough to know better. It's even worse than it appears.

On Evil, Civility, and Why Some Things Cannot Be Compromised Away

A defining and underpinning characteristic of the international financial system in the 21st century is the apparent necessity of access to, usage of and infrastructure needed for sovereign debt (or comparable instruments), credit markets and capital markets more broadly. Typically, states across the globe rely on access to and usage of such markets to borrow...

We are in an era of limited wars that are motivated by political manipulation of the public appetite for violent conflict. War has become indecisive and performative.

How the Supreme Court Just Redefined Presidential Authority

On Peter Thiel's Gnostic Christianity and the Pathology of Hierarchical Thinking

Peter Thiel's Elegant Nihilism

How Conservative Legal Theory Collapsed Into Partisan Hackery

An overview of Clausewitz's thinking winds up showing how the US has ignored it, with the bad results Clausewitz predicted.

On embodiment, industrial realities, and why the center still holds

The 21st Century’s Useful Idiots of Fascism

Clarence Thomas's anti-trans concurrence is the culmination of right-wing anti-intellectualism

Colleges and universities renew Turnitin subscriptions year after year even though its flawed detectors are expensive and require students to let the company keep their papers forever.

For people with OCD, reassurance can be harmful. ChatGPT provides an infinite supply.

Republicans are proposing huge cuts to Medicaid. The impact on Americans’ health would be devastating.