Tootfinder

CBS is assenting to its own diminishment.
The biggest loss is to core American values, such as the right to speak freely, even in brutally mocking terms, about those in power.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/16/opinion/stephen-colbert…

Opinion | Stephen Colbert’s Late Show Cancellation and the Fall of CBS
In shutting down a 33-year late-night franchise, CBS is assenting to its own diminishment.

Sources: ByteDance shares are trading at a $600B valuation in gray markets; an IPO is unlikely and its growth continues to benefit its Chinese and US backers (Henny Sender/Nikkei Asia)
https://asia.nikkei.com/opinion/bytedance-sideline…

ByteDance sidelines listing as China's first $1 trillion valuation nears
With economy showing resilience, hopes for bullish sentiment for shares are rising

Shakespeare, Bowie, Einstein: Mona opens one-of-a-kind underground library Phrontisterion - ABC News https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-21/mona-library-phrontisterion-david-walsh-opening/106824466
All the cool libraries eschew Dewe…

Mona unveils $100m underground library packed with rare literary treasures
From Shakespeare's First Folio to neon-lit shelves to a curvy kids' section, Mona's new library, Phrontisterion, is anything but ordinary.  

U.S. lead in science is shrinking fast as China, India and even Iran catch up https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2026-06-03/united-states-science-investment-china-india-iran Easy under the current Trump-led US administration.

Contributor: U.S. lead in science is shrinking fast as China, India and even Iran catch up
As global competition intensifies, the United States risks driving away the world’s brightest minds rather than drawing them in.

The Trump regime's select group of allies in the fight against climate: Iran, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Israel, Yemen, Liberia and Belarus.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/21/un-vote-support-icj-world-court-climate-ch…

Chinese open models are proper competition that should be welcomed, not something to ban or treat as a danger, and open-sourcing is an old business strategy (Bill Gurley/Washington Post)

Powerful AI models are being given away for free. It was inevitable.
They aren’t a security threat — they’re what competition looks like.

The Trump administration is advancing plans to resettle an additional 10,000 white South Africans in the United States as refugees.
Under Trump’s proposal, which was submitted to Congress on Monday, the U.S. would lift its record-low refugee admissions figure from 7,500 to 17,500,
with the additional openings reserved for Afrikaners.
This comes as the administration continues to block the entry of refugees from other countries.
The U.S. has resettled just over 6,000 …

“Clear Racism”: Trump Admin Blocks Refugee Resettlement, Except for White South Africans
The Trump administration is advancing plans to resettle an additional 10,000 white South Africans in the United States as refugees. Under President Trump’s proposal, which was submitted to Congress on Monday, the U.S. would lift its record-low refugee admissions figure from 7,500 to 17,500, with the additional openings reserved for Afrikaners. This comes as the administration continues to block the entry of refugees from other countries. The U.S. has resettled just over 6,000 refugees between…

Billionaire-backed Building A Better California reserves $87M in TV ad time to oppose California's proposed one-time wealth tax; Sergey Brin put $82M into BABC (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/1…

Billionaires Prepare $87 Million Ad Campaign to Block California Wealth Tax
A coalition backed by the Google co-founder Sergey Brin and wealthy tech investors is trying to neutralize a proposed one-time tax on the state’s richest residents.

Has there ever been an episode of presidential corruption so blatant and threatening to constitutional order?
Certainly not in modern times.
Trump’s Justice Department is using taxpayer money to create a $1.8 billion political slush fund.
Ostensibly set up to compensate those who the department claims have “suffered weaponization and lawfare,”
it will in fact reward loyalists willing to defy the law and commit violence on behalf of the president.
The fund manages…

Opinion | Trump’s Slush Fund Will Reward Criminals. Americans Will Pay for It.
The president’s corruption and subversion of democratic tradition risk becoming the norm.

Across the country, a few younger Democrats are beginning to paint a picture of a nation that stands for more than gratuitous displays of power and wealth, the bombs we drop on Iranian children or an oligarch purchasing the pageantry of the Met Gala:
Jon Ossoff is arguing persuasively that rooting out corruption is the key to making government serve the people.
James Talarico is describing how his faith compels a brand of politics in which we care for one another.
Alexan…

Opinion | This Is How a Party Ends Up Looking Like a Clown Car
We need leaders who tell us hard truths while insisting that the present state of our politics is not permanent.