Zohran through tears: “My aunt stopped taking the subway after 9/11 because she did not feel safe in her hijab.” Yes, she was the real victim of 9/11

Republicans control the House. Republicans control the Senate. Republicans control the White House. This is their shutdown.

Watching in real-time as Tommy Robinson works through his re-education camp in Israel, and seeing him report daily in front of a camera on what he learned and unlearned -- like a 3rd grader reciting a book report -- is uncomfortable but illuminating:

Donald Trump is the realest president of all time!

🚨 BREAKING: In an incredible gesture, President Trump reveals the anonymous billionaire who is paying the troops during the shutdown has OFFICIALLY sent a check for $130M. WOW! "Today he sent us a check for $130 million." REPORTER: Who? TRUMP: "He doesn't want the recognition! But he gave us a check for $130M. It's gonna go to the military!" "That's what I call a PATRIOT." I wonder who it is 👀🇺🇸

Take a good look. He might tear this down next. (There is exactly as much preventing him from doing that as there was stopping him from tearing down the East Wing.)

If this happens, it will be a level of corruption honestly unimaginable in the history of the U.S.

Senate Democrats: “We can’t end our shutdown because we’re scared.”

/1🏛️NEW SCOTUS BRIEF — AFL is standing with the Trump Administration, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold President Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to restore order in Chicago.

Maybe a very prosaic observation, but I've been reflecting on just how much the pandemic changed the world in ways that are completely unrelated to the pandemic itself. I think I've underestimated it 'till now. In a recent interview, I was struck by the comment that so many of the shops that we associate with the best of France—the poissonneries and the fromageries—closed during the pandemic, to be replaced by take-out pizza shops and the like. College professors almost uniformly describe big changes in student behavior: lecture attendance and willingness of students to complete reading assignments are both way down. A UK government official recently told me that British economic statistics have become much less reliable since the pandemic: data on trade, employment, and population is suspect. (The true GDP per capita figures are probably worse than what is indicated by the published data, since the 2021 census is believed to be an undercount.) In the West, there are far fewer bustling workplaces than there used to be. In recent conversation with a well-traveled friend, he bemoaned how so many cities—places like Madrid, Buenos Aires, and Bali—have lost so much of their erstwhile vibrant nightlife. Immigration accelerated enormously across many countries, including the US, the UK, Canada, and Australia. In China, I hear descriptions of how fear, caution, and conservatism have persisted since the COVID lockdowns. (And Western travel to China remains massively depressed.) Lots of the changes are neutral, or even good. Retail participation in the US stock market almost doubled overnight, say, and has persisted at that elevated rate. Firm creation in the US increased by around 50%, which is probably a very good thing. Overall, the number of time series (either literal or figurative) that jumped discontinuously during COVID and then didn’t return to baseline is just very striking. Which are the best historical analogs? Are there any apart from major wars? I want to read this book!

They were Selfish Grifters, looking for Attention, and Cried when they got the Negative Attention they Deserved!