Star Advertiser:

The state of Hawaii will mark the one-year anniversary of the Lahaina wildfires on Maui with flags at half-staff to honor lives lost. […]

Gov. Josh Green has ordered that the U.S. and Hawaii state flags be flown at half-staff from sunrise on Thursday to sunset on Monday in honor of the 102 lives lost.

Maui State Senators Lynn DeCoite, Angus McKelvey, and Troy Hashimoto, reflecting on the anniversary:

Maui has always been a community of aloha, resilience, and hope and as we look back on the tragedies that occurred on Aug. 8, 2023, we see this reflected in the people of Maui. Each and every life lost and survived has a story and a memory. As we continue to heal and move towards rebuilding, we remain committed to each other and to our communities. Mahalo to the State, the County of Maui, community leaders, volunteers, and our neighbors for coming together in our time of need. While there is much to be done in our long journey to recovery, we see a road ahead full of hope and promise. With the foundation of the generations that came before us, we will rebuild for future generations, with hope, resilience, and aloha, for Maui Nui.

Maui is commemorating those lost with community events, and a 102-second moment of silence at 2:55 p.m.

Maui is one of my favorite places on Earth; we’ve visited just about annually for 15 years. It feels like a second home. My wife and I, our parents, and five friends were there during the fires. We had limited food, and were without power, hot water, and cell service for five days, but we were fortunate to have avoided the fires directly, to have a safe roof over our heads, and a hotel staff who went miles beyond. We didn’t realize exactly how devastating the fires were and how close we were to danger until we were leaving and driving through the destruction. It was so overwhelming I pulled over and broke down in tears. I’m getting emotional even now as I write this. It felt like I’d lost a part of my soul. It still does.

We were there again this past April, and will be going again next May. If I can sneak in a trip between now and then, I will. I love Maui, and I love the people of Maui.

Mahalo Nui Loa. Aʻohe hana nui ke alu ʻia.

Mark Kennedy, Associated Press:

More than 80 farms in the U.S. and Canada have teamed up with Peanuts Worldwide to create “Peanuts”-themed mazes to celebrate the beloved strip’s 75th birthday this summer and fall.

There are very few people alive today who remember a time before Peanuts existed.

They’re custom created by the world’s largest corn maze consulting company, The MAiZE Inc.

I truly enjoy a good name pun. And of course there are corn maze consulting companies.

“All of these events helps keep my dad's legacy alive,” says Jill Schulz, an actor and daughter of “Peanuts” creator Charles M. Schulz.

Peanuts has long been one of my favorite strips, and Charles Schulz is a bit of a childhood hero. It was a must-read part of my daily and Sunday comics rotation growing up. A few years after he died, we visited the Schulz Museum, and it was a surprisingly emotional experience. It warms my football-pulling heart that 75 years after his first strip, and nearly a quarter-century after his last, we still celebrate “Sparky” and his wonderful creation.

Umar Shakirk, writing for The Verge:

Google is updating its two navigation apps — Google Maps and Waze — with a slew of new features, including some changes that bring the two closer together.

I’m surprised Waze still remains a separate app, over a decade after it was acquired.

I admit, I often prefer Waze over Apple Maps. That’s partly because I started using it when Apple Maps, um, sucked and never fully broke out of the habit; and partly because I liked Waze’s ability to route around traffic hotspots, and report road closures, slowing traffic, and hidden police traps—all features coming to Google Maps:

One of the big updates here continues to integrate the biggest features from Waze directly into Maps. For Maps, improved Waze-like incident reporting adds larger icons to share updates like road closures, construction, speed cameras, or police presence. Other drivers will be prompted to confirm incidents with a tap.

Even if all the functionality of Waze were added to Google Maps, I still wouldn’t use it. I seem to have a natural aversion to most Google products (even Mail and Search, which I use regularly but reluctantly). Something about their design sensibilities rubs me the wrong way. Perhaps that’s true for others:

It can feel like Waze and Google Maps are on a collision course, but the two apps continue to remain separate. Can Comertoglu, group project manager for Google Maps, told The Verge at a press briefing on Tuesday that Waze users are very dedicated, saying, “They prefer some of the things that Waze does over Google Maps, and we know the reverse is true as well.”

My maps usage has started shifting away from Waze and back to Apple Maps recently, primarily driven (ahem) by CarPlay, as it often shows the places I was last looking at in iMessage, Calendar, or even searches, and offers it as a potential destination.

Waze and Google Maps will probably have to wait for Apple Intelligence for that.

Wes Davis, writing for The Verge:

Apple’s latest developer betas launched last week with a handful of the generative AI features that were announced at WWDC and are headed to your iPhones, iPads, and Macs over the next several months. On Apple’s computers, however, you can actually read the instructions programmed into the model supporting some of those Apple Intelligence features.

The “instructions” are pre-prompts given to the large language models (LLMs) Apple uses ahead of the user’s input. It’s similar to what you might give ChatGPT to guide it toward the type of responses you want.

One of the prompts is:

You are an assistant which helps the user respond to their mails. Please draft a concise and natural reply based on the provided reply snippet. Please limit the answer within 50 words. Do not hallucinate. Do not make up factual information. Preserve the input mail tone.

Another ends with this:

Please output top questions along with set of possible answers/options for each of those questions. Do not ask questions which are answered by the reply snippet. The questions should be short, no more than 8 words. The answers should be short as well, around 2 words. Present your output in a json format with a list of dictionaries containing question and answers as the keys. If no question is asked in the mail, then output an empty list. Only output valid json and nothing else.

We’re interacting with LLMs like they’re programmable systems and hoping they interpret our prompts accurately. We’ve entered a new era of nondeterministic software development—prompt engineering as programming language—where we aren’t sure how things work, and we’re not guaranteed the same output for any given input.

What could possibly go wrong?

The Apple community is having a blast poking at Apple for these prompts:

Nilay Patel:

I don’t know if AI is a bubble but I do know talking to computers like they’re disobedient college freshman is the silliest programming language of all time

9to5Mac:

The instructions not to halluctinate seem … optimistic! The reason generative AI systems hallucinate (that is, make up fake information) is they have no actual understanding of the content, and therefore no reliable way to know whether their output is true or false.

Odin:

Just tell AI not to hallucinate! Why didn’t anyone think of that before?

Dominic Hopton:

I’m trying to work out how we made a turn into ‘idk, maybe it’ll work this time’ world of ✌️programming✌️. No matter — i don’t like it.

Lllllawrence:

I still find it surreal that we are now instructing computers to do things using natural language, even at the back-end level, instead of using programming code.

David W. Keith:

Software engineering is very different than when I started learning BASIC

James Savage:

I am not ready to see “B.S. in Prompt Engineering” on resumes 🫥

I’m sure Apple’s in-house LLMs are designed to handle these prompts in an intelligent manner, but what stops someone from adding their own equivalent of “ignore all previous instructions” and hijacking the system? How can we be sure that any two people will get the same response to the same request, or even that two requests in a row are consistent?

I excited for the potential for AI, but I’m a tad worried we don’t yet fully understand how to control it.

Madiba K. Dennie, writing in Balls and Strikes:

In July 2022, a high school graduation party in upstate New York turned into a melee. Police officers arrived on the scene after receiving reports of multiple fights. Then, a partygoer walked right up to the cops and introduced herself. “I’m Erin Gall,” she said. “I’m a Supreme Court judge.”

Dennie’s story from a few days ago focuses, rightly, on the abusive and abhorrent behavior of the judge, and that, based on her conduct, she should lose her job.

She pressured the officers to arrest four Black teenagers, saying she “might have to call the chief of police” if the cops didn’t comply. She insulted the Black kids’ intelligence, saying that they “don’t look like they’re that smart” and were “not going to business school, that’s for sure.”….

She also threatened to shoot the teens, claiming that she was allowed to do so to trespassers. “I’ll shoot them on the property,” Gall said. (It is important to note here that the property was not even hers.)

New York State doesn’t have a “stand your ground” law. In fact, it has a “duty to retreat” law, except when an attacker is in your home, or in cases of robbery, burglary, kidnapping, and sexual assault. None of which applied here. Not only does she seem to be racist and biased, it appears she’s not even a competent judge.

The full complaint against Gall is absolutely jaw dropping and well worth reading; it goes into full detail on the depth of her rage and privilege that evening.

She absolutely deserves to lose her judgeship, and any cases which ever came before her involving police or Black people should probably be reviewed, if not tossed outright.

Yes, her behavior is that appalling.

But can we take a moment to acknowledge the responding officers?

Dennie writes,

The cops, who I assume are the most self-aware police officers in the tri-state area, resisted Gall’s directives.

I think she massively undersells this. When cops show up, they often escalate an already tense situation, often with deadly results.

Not these cops. These officers were calm, polite, helpful. They shut down the racist, violent rhetoric coming from the judge and her family and friends. They were solicitous toward the young Black men who were the focus of her diatribes. They wished everyone safe rides home, and it sounded like they meant it.

They were everything we’re told police officers are supposed to be.

Early in the video, as he clears everyone out, an officer approaches two of the young Black men who were part of the altercations. The officer immediately expresses concern that one of the guys may be hurt, reaching out to touch the guy’s shoulder and face. He asks if he needs medical attention, suggests the injury may need stitches, and calls someone over to help. He then asks what happened; the second young man moves closer, and starts to explain, with an opening caveat:

Officer, officer, I don’t want you think I’m touching you or nothing—

He does this with his hands raised, arms bent at the elbow, palms out. The gesture is unmistakable: I’m harmless, no need to fear me. Hands up, don’t shoot.

The officer responds immediately:

Nah, nah, you’re alright.

Immediate de-escalation.

Toward the end of the evening, as the last people are leaving, there’s this exchange between a young Black woman in her car, and the officer:

Woman: Have a good night, officer. Thank you for being respectful.

Officer: It’s the only way.

Attendee: Definitely.

You can hear the appreciation, verging on relief, in her voice as she drives off.

Imagine if all police were this self-aware.

Pretty good introductory video (community, Nebraska, military service, teacher, football coach, common good…), but it’s this Instagram video with his daughter, Hope, that I find is absolutely endearing.

I noted earlier, of VP Harris’s VP selection:

The pick was announced on Instagram first, a full ten minutes before it was released on X/Twitter. This is good. Politicians (and others) need to deemphasize Musk’s awful site when breaking news.

Jason Sattler, AKA LOLGOP, guest posting on framelab:

Go “Twitter Last.” Campaigns from Harris for President on down should clarify that they will post to Twitter only after updating other platforms. Steering the media away from Twitter helps democracy. Announcing you will make news elsewhere will send reporters and users to these other platforms, as will every announcement the media makes that says, “As the campaign noted on BlueSky…” etc. Political strategist Murshed Zaheed calls this going “Twitter Last.” A huge announcement – like naming a vice presidential nominee – would be a great time to try this strategy.

This has been on my mind since President Biden announced his decision to step down as the nominee, and to endorse VP Harris, on X/Twitter. I’m glad to see Harris “took” the advice.

Sattler summarizes the problem with using X/Twitter:

There has never been a threat to democracy quite like Elon Musk. Now is a great time to stop helping him.

Announcing on X/Twitter, or even just using it, gives power to a platform and a person very much biased against democracy. As Sattler explains, the issue is Musk himself:

The Tesla CEO emerged as the most prominent supporter of Donald Trump who isn’t on the Supreme Court (or isn’t Vladimir Putin). And no one has taken Kamala Harris’s exuberant rise worse than Elon. Possibly not even Trump.

Musk’s weaponization of Twitter in the information war worsens daily, using tactics pioneered by Trump.

So why do politicians, pundits, and journalists remain—and break news—on X/Twitter? Inertia, says Sattler:

Let’s be honest. For many people, Twitter is the “sunk-cost social network” for those who don’t want to learn a new platform or give up the following or news feed they may have spent more than a decade building.

He notes:

Unfortunately, despite its dwindling audience, Twitter remains a hub for many of the nation’s top journalists, celebrities, and influencers. Their credibility heightens Musk’s unprecedented perch in society. He’s a mogul as powerful as Rupert Murdoch with a voice louder than any cable news pundit.

In January 2023, Dan Gillmore wrote that Journalists (And Others) Should Leave Twitter. Here’s How They Can Get Started; his advice for journalists holds for politicians too, and for anyone who wants to loosen the grip of Elon Musk on our global discourse.

It’s doesn’t really matter whether you join Mastodon, Bluesky, or Threads; pick one or two, and find your people. I’ve settled on Mastodon, but I have Bluesy and Threads accounts too. The more people who depart X/Twitter, the less mass remains to keep people there, and the better we’ll be long term.

Dan Pfeiffer, writing in The Message Box:

The political logic of the Walz pick is less obvious than with Shapiro and Kelly, the other two finalists. This is especially true with Shapiro, a very popular governor from the critical state of Pennsylvania. Harris likely has no path to the White House without Pennsylvania.

And:

In picking Walz, Kamala Harris looked at something broader than winning one state. She sought a running mate to help her in all seven battleground states. Winning Pennsylvania alone is not enough to get to the White House. Presidential politics is more chess than checkers, and choosing Walz is evidence that Kamala Harris is looking at the whole board.

Lest we forget, the queen is the most powerful piece in chess.

Kamala Harris, via her Instagram account:

I am proud to announce that I’ve asked @timwalz to be my running mate.

A great pick.

It wasn’t the expected choice, although it seemed more likely after calling MAGA folks “weird”, a word that’s stuck, is driving the other side bonkers, and shows he can be an “attack dog” without being “nasty”. I’m sure it raised his profile tremendously.

He seems as midwest as midwest can be, with a definite “everyone’s favorite uncle” vibe, which balances Harris’s “cool Cali auntie” chic. It helps, too, that he’s won in areas that have strong a Republican electorate who might have stayed home this cycle.

Walz also compares remarkably well against J.D. Vance. In some ways, it’s feels like “Actually Midwest” vs. “Hollywood’s image of Midwest.”

I can’t wait for the vice presidential debate.

(Worth noting: The pick was announced on Instagram first, a full ten minutes before it was released on X/Twitter. This is good. Politicians (and others) need to deemphasize Musk’s awful site when breaking news.)

Alexandra Petri, in an opinion piece for the Washington Post, is having none of this Google Gemini ad, featuring a dad using it to write a letter from his daughter to her hero, Olympic hurdler Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone:

All of the buffoons excited by the prospect of AI taking over all our writing — report summaries, data surveys, children’s letters, all tossed into the same pile indiscriminately — are missing the point in a spectacular manner. Do you know what writing is?

It is thinking in a form that you can share with other people. It is a method for taking thoughts and images and stories out of your brain and putting them into someone else’s brain. E.M. Forster quotes a woman saying, “How can I tell what I think until I see what I say?” To take away the ability to write for yourself is to take away the ability to think for yourself.

Why outsource our thinking to AI?

Ironically, without the Gemini bit, it’s already a quite lovely fan letter to McLaughlin-Levrone. Google simply selected the wrong product to advertise. With the videos and voiceovers, it could have been an ad for YouTube.

(Via Dwight Silverman.)

Update: Google pulled the ad:

In a statement, a Google rep said, “While the ad tested well before airing, given the feedback, we have decided to phase the ad out of our Olympics rotation.”

Perhaps some new “testers” are needed.

Clive Thompson, writing for Wired:

I’ve long argued that BASIC is the most consequential language in the history of computing. It’s a language for noobs, sure, but back then most everyone was a noob. Throughout the ’70s and ’80s, BASIC sent a shock wave through teenage tech culture. Kids who were lucky or privileged enough (or both) to gain access to computers that ran BASIC—the VIC-20, the Commodore 64, janky Sinclair boxes in the UK—immediately started writing games, text adventures, chatbots, databases.

I was one of those kids “lucky or privileged” enough to learn BASIC in the early ’80s, mostly on Apple II computers. It wasn’t my first programming language (that honor goes to Logo) but during my early- and mid-teenage years I spent an absolutely ludicrous amount of my waking hours writing BASIC.

I remember writing BASIC programs in a graph paper notebook while riding the bus home from high school, dashing into my room to pound the code into my Apple //c, and rejoicing as my ideas sprung to life. It felt truly magical.

I’ve learned a dozen or more other programming languages since, but I’ll always love BASIC.

Back to BASIC—the Most Consequential Programming Language in the History of Computing

Coding was a preserve of elites, until BASIC hit the streets.

WIREDCondé Nast

Yes, it’s a five minute and twenty-two second airline safety video. I don’t even bother watching these when I’m flying.

But this one has gorgeous costumes, beautiful locations, and top notch production value. The tag line is “A British Original Period Drama” and it really does feel like a lavish TV production. So much fun. It’s sure to engage even the most jaded flyers.

Checkout the behind the scenes video, too.

DC-based distiller Republic Restoratives: 

To commemorate the inauguration of America’s first female, black, AND South Asian Vice President, we’ve collaborated with talented local artist, and AKA soror, Lex Marie (@thelexmarie) to create a whiskey fit for toasting history: Madam.

Jessica Sidman, writing for Washingtonian:

Madam was initially created for the 2021 inauguration when Harris became the first female Vice President. They chose the name Madam—not thinking it could also be an apt name for a potential presidential whiskey as well.

Since Joe Biden ended his campaign and Harris announced hers, sales have been brisk: 

Within 24 hours, the distillery sold out of the 300 bottles it had in stock for direct-to-consumer sales. They’ve been scrambling to bottle up more whiskey with an additional 200 ordered in the days since. 

There are many ways we can demonstrate enthusiasm for a political candidate. I didn’t have boffo sales of themed whiskey on my scorecard.

One of the owners and distillers of Republic Restoratives is Pia Carusone, who was chief of staff to former Rep. Gabby Giffords. Carusone spoke on local DC news station WUSA9 about the whiskey, the sales, and, of course, the politics of it all.

I think it’s telling this whiskey is exploding in popularity now. People appreciated the historic election of the first female Vice President (who also happened to be Black and South Asian), but they seem downright jubilant about the possibility of electing her President.

I presume many of these bottles were purchased as collectibles, never to be opened. As a whiskey lover, I’m hoping the juice—a 92º bourbon-rye blend (58% rye, 37% corn, 5% malted barley)—is good too. And yes, I did order a couple of bottles: One to hold onto, and one to toast with on January 20, 2025.

(Via @bloodravenlib.)

From AWilderDoctor on X/Twitter. (I don’t like linking to X/Twitter, but this one was too good.)

The painting is Blue Monday, by the late Annie Lee.

It’s an evocative use of this painting as a Black, South Asian woman is asked to defend democracy, and tens of thousands of Black women from across the country wearily but resolutely rise with her.

(Via NAACP.)

USPS:

Celebrate the 50th anniversary of an iconic role-playing game with the new Dungeons & Dragons stamps ….

The pane of 20 stamps features 10 different designs that highlight characters, creatures, and encounters familiar to players and the imaginative world of D&D.

USPS is doing a bang-up job with their specialty stamps. Hank Aaron, Alex Trebek, The Underground Railroad, now this… I’m almost tempted to become a philatelist.

These brought me back to my high school and college role-playing and wargaming years, even though I wasn’t a huge Dungeons and Dragons player (I was more into Warhammer Fantasy and 40K). But: 50 years?! 2d8 against constitution and intelligence.

The Steve Jobs Archive opened their second online exhibit recently, The Objects of Our Lives. It’s a beautiful retrospective of a talk Steve gave early in his time at Apple:

On a sunny June morning in 1983, Steve waits at the back of a giant tent, ready to take the stage at the International Design Conference in Aspen. This year’s theme is “The Future Isn’t What It Used to Be,” and he is here to talk about computers to an audience of several hundred designers and design-lovers.

For me, and perhaps for many of you reading this, Steve Jobs was a personal hero. My introduction to, love for, and eventual career in computers were all sparked in 1981 by an Apple ][, and Steve Jobs was the face of Apple for me. 

One of many things I enjoyed about Steve was watching him talk. I’ve been fortunate enough to see him present in person several times, and countless times on video. He has an ease to him, like he’s just sitting in my living room, shooting the breeze, telling a story. Unhurried, yet very deliberate. A showman, without being showy. And an unparalleled ability to explain complex ideas with compelling simplicity.

As former Apple design head Jony Ive writes in his introduction to The Objects of Our Life:

Steve remains one of the best educators I’ve ever met in my life. He had that ability to explain incredibly abstract, complex technologies in terms that were accessible, tangible and relevant. You hear him describe the computer as doing nothing more than completing fairly mundane tasks, but doing so very quickly. He gives the example of running out to grab a bunch of flowers and returning by the time you could snap your fingers – speed rendering the task magical.

What a treat, then, to watch Steve speak; already tremendously successful, but not yet at the peak of his success. This is the year before his iconic introduction of the Macintosh computer. Before he’s exiled, before he returns to Apple for his remarkable second act. The easy, deliberate storyteller is already on display—unpolished if only in comparison to his later appearances, but unmistakably there.

Ive, again:

I find it breathtaking how profound his understanding was of the dramatic changes that were about to happen as the computer became broadly accessible. Of course, beyond just being prophetic, he was fundamental in defining products that would change our culture and our lives forever. 

The written piece alone is wonderful. But to see and hear Steve speak, passionately, predictively, prepared but seemingly unrehearsed—that is a true treasure.

A few select gems (with timestamps):

On the amount of time we’ll use computers daily (8:35):

By ’86, ’87, pick a year, people are going to be spending more time interacting with these machines than they do interacting with their big automobile machines today. People are going to be spending two, three hours a day sometimes, interacting with these machines—longer than they spend in a car. 

I definitely spent way more than that on my computer during that time!

On shrinking computers (25:25):

What we want to do is we want to put an incredibly great computer in a book that you can carry around with you, that you can learn how to use in 20 minutes.… And we really want to do it with a radio link in it.…

Steve offers three options on how to do this: do nothing (“not a good option”); squeeze a “garbage computer” into a book (“our competitors are doing that, so we don’t need to”); or

design the computer that we want to put into the book eventually, even though we can’t put it into the book now. And right now, it fits in a breadbox and it’s $10,000 and it’s called Lisa.…

The next thing we will do is we will find a way to put it in a shoebox and sell it for like $2,500. And that’ll be the next step. And finally, we’ll find a way to get it in a book and sell it for under $1,000. And we will be there within five to seven years.

The “shoebox” for “$2,500” would be the Macintosh he’ll introduce just seven months later. The first “book … under a thousand dollars” may credibly be credited to the Newton MessagePad; it was $699 when it went on sale in 1993, only three years later than Steve’s prediction, though that project didn’t start until 1985, the year Steve left Apple. I’d suggest Apple’s first “real” sub-$1,000 “book” was the iPad in 2010, which started at $499.

On using computers with proportional fonts and graphics (29:04): 

we’re solving the problems of injecting some liberal arts into these computers. That’s what we’re trying to do right now. Let’s get proportionally spaced fonts in there. Let’s get multiple fonts in there. Let’s get graphics in there so that we can deal in pictures. And let’s get to the point where three years from now, when somebody…there is going to be no college student three or four years from now that’s ever going to think of writing a paper without one of these things, just like they will not think of going to a science class without a calculator today. 

By 1985-86 this was already true for me: Every one of my high school papers were typeset and printed using proportional fonts (though with an Apple //c and dot-matrix printer, not a Macintosh and laser printer).

On computer scientists:

They’re fun. They play in punk rock bands on the weekends and all sorts of stuff. Computer people aren’t…you read all this computer-nerd stuff. It’s not really true anymore. They’re really a lot closer to artists than they are to anything else. They come in to work at about, I don’t know, anytime they want, but usually about eleven in the morning, twelve in the morning, play a few rounds of Ping-Pong. They work really hard, but they’ll work…and generally about four, we’ll go out and maybe play a game of volleyball somewhere or something like that. And then in the evening we work. And then they’ll have dinner. And we’ll go out to a Japanese restaurant for dinner or something and come back. And they’ll work till about two or three in the morning. And they go home and wake up at eleven the next morning and come in to work.

Some things never really change.

(Via @Philip Schiller.)

I originally planned to post this over the weekend, as an example of the vice president’s ability to energize and engage a crowd. The audience loved her. They riffed together. Her energy, passion, and, yes, charisma shone through.

My headline was going to be More of Vice President Harris Speaking, Please.

That will no longer be an issue.

Dorothy Thompson, Harper’s Magazine:

It is an interesting and somewhat macabre parlor game to play at a large gathering of one’s acquaintances: to speculate who in a showdown would go Nazi.…

I have come to know the types: the born Nazis, the Nazis whom democracy itself has created, the certain-to-be fellow-travelers. And I also know those who never, under any conceivable circumstances, would become Nazis.…

Nazism has nothing to do with race and nationality. It appeals to a certain type of mind.

It is also, to an immense extent, the disease of a generation—the generation which was either young or unborn at the end of the last war.… It is the disease of the so-called “lost generation.”

This essay is shockingly relevant today, some 83 years after it was first published in 1941. Simply replace “Nazi” with “MAGA.” 

Actually, you might not even need to do that.

Kind, good, happy, gentlemanly, secure people never go Nazi…. But the frustrated and humiliated intellectual, the rich and scared speculator, the spoiled son, the labor tyrant, the fellow who has achieved success by smelling out the wind of success—they would all go Nazi in a crisis.

We’re seeing this play out in real time, as crypto bros, venture capitalists, and social media tyrants rush to support Donald Trump (especially in light of his VP pick, J.D. Vance, who worked in VC and was a protégé of Peter Thiel).

Bobby Allyn, at NPR:

[Marc] Andreessen, who has historically supported Democrats, said the “final straw” with his shift away from Biden was the president’s policy aimed at the super rich: a 25% tax on unrealized gains on households that are worth more than $100 million.

These cosplaying “masters of the universe” will cheerfully sell out this country before they share even a minuscule fraction more of their unimaginable wealth, happy to usher in an autocratic regime which allows them still more unchecked power, as they become even more absurdly wealthy.

They would be pathetic if they weren’t such an existential threat.

Madiba K. Dennie, attorney, professor, and author of The Originalism Trap: How Extremists Stole the Constitution and How We the People Can Take It Back.:

So Originalism is the idea that the meaning of the Constitution is fixed in time. Originalists say that we have to interpret the document today the same way it would have allegedly been interpreted 200 years ago. Now, this might sound really steeped in history, but it’s actually a relatively modern idea.

A fantastic and illuminating conversation, with three exceedingly erudite and engaging speakers. An important watch that highlights the inherent inconsistency of constitutional originalism.

Dennie, late in the discussion:

They just have to play their little game of telephone with dead slaveholders first, and then they’ll get right back to us.

That aside—on why SCOTUS takes so long to make (often awful) decisions—cracked me up. It also happens to succinctly summarize their perspective.

As a bit of background, this discussion is presented by The 92nd Street Y, New York, which regularly hosts wonderful conversations. This one explores

originalism’s controversial hold on constitutional interpretation, revealing its flaws and advocating for an inclusive constitutionalism that upholds equal rights for all.

In addition to Dennie (whose book is the catalyst for the conversation), the speakers include:

• Melissa Murray, Professor of Law at NYU, host of the podcast Strict Scrutiny, and author of The Trump Indictments: The Historic Charging Documents with Commentary.
• Elie Mystal, attorney, Justice correspondent at The Nation, and author of Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy's Guide to the Constitution.

Jennifer Weiss-Wolf, of NYU Law’s Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Network is the host.

Three moments (of many!) worth highlighting:

Dennie, explaining the origins of originalism:

We saw this first start to bubble up in the backlash to Brown v. Board, really ramp up, responding more to the Civil Rights movement, and then formalized and crystallized during Ronald Reagan’s Justice Department, which basically became a sort of in-house originalist think tank for formalizing these ideas and getting them out there, as if this was a legitimate model of legal interpretation rather than cover up for conservative reactionary politics.

On why she decided to write The Originalism Trap:

Things are becoming exceedingly clear that the Court feels fully comfortable using the idea that women didn’t have rights then—at this point in time that I cherry-pick—so they can’t have rights now, or saying… the country didn’t regulate muskets in a particular way so they can’t regulate AR-15s. It’s just an intellectually bankrupt way of interpreting the Constitution that has been used to make our lives as Americans, as people who live here, a lot more dangerous.

Elie Mystal, on how he would decide cases:

14th Amendment, or GTFO.

It’s an extremely educational, fast-moving fifty minutes. (Watch at 1.25x speed if you’re short on time.)

Vice President Kamala Harris:

On behalf of the American people, I thank Joe Biden for his extraordinary leadership as President of the United States and for his decades of service to our country.

I am honored to have the President’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination.

And in a follow-up:

I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party—and unite our nation—to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda. If you’re with me, add a donation right now.

Harris has already garnered significant support for her candidacy from several prominent Democrats, including Bill and Hillary Clinton, Gov. Josh Shapiro, Rep. Jim Clyburn, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Rep. Adam Schiff, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sec. Pete Buttigieg, and Gov. Gavin Newsom, making it likely, perhaps even inevitable, that she becomes the nominee.  Update: The Washington Post has a running list of Harris endorsements from among the “263 congressional Democrats and 23 Democratic governors.”

In addition, the Biden for President organization is now officially Harris for President, following a name change filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Democrats with serious aspirations of becoming president are unlikely to challenge her, out of self-preservation if nothing else. Only a fringe candidate and former Democrat have so far suggested they would; those will not be serious challenges.

The next several weeks leading up to the Democratic National Convention are going to be absolutely wild.

(One interesting logistical observation: When I checked around 3 p.m. (Pacific) today, ‌kamalaharris.com was not operational. About an hour later—perhaps in conjunction with the FEC filing?—it started redirecting to joebiden.com. I’m guessing a lot of IT and web folks are scrambling to stand up a full campaign site in record time. They’re already updating ‌unitedforharris.com with today’s news.

Update: kamalaharris.com now redirects to an Act Blue donation page.)

President Joe Biden, writing to the American people:

It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.

It’s an unprecedented move by a sitting president running for reelection.

And in a follow-up:

My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. 

I’ve been vocally against the push for President Biden to step down as the Democratic nominee. I’ve been equally vocal that if he did step aside, only one person should be seriously considered for the top of the ticket: Kamala Harris.

President Biden’s performance during The Debate (as it will now always be known) was painful, not because of what he said, but because of how he said it. As I wrote on Mastodon that night:

It frustrates me that this election will likely come down to bluster-filled lies vs. good policies delivered weakly.

From that moment, the entire Democratic establishment, the commentariat, and the media (especially the execrable New York Times) pushed the narrative that Biden was unfit to run. This exit became almost inevitable. In many ways, the pressure campaign felt like a slow-moving coup.

Despite the way this came about, it’s now imperative that the Democratic Party coalesce behind Vice President Harris. Early reports suggest this is happening, and I expect we’ll see many more over the next few hours and days.

Given the circumstances, VP Harris is not only the obvious choice to be the new nominee, I think she’s the best choice. Prosecutor vs. felon. Youth vs. age. Progressive vs. fascist. Many of the attacks Trump/Vance lodged against President Biden are blunted against VP Harris. It would be farcical, verging on negligent, to suggest VP Harris is somehow the “wrong” person to lead the ticket.

The wildcard, as always, is the American electorate. This country’s unexamined racism and misogyny will make this more challenging than it should be, but I’m sure of one thing: If a majority of today’s America is unwilling to vote for an intelligent, progressive, qualified candidate because she has brown skin and boobs, they alone own the autocracy that comes with the alternative. 

I said last week:

Some moments in our life we recognize immediately as capital-H Historic.

This election is now inescapably Historic.

Leigh McGowan, AKA PoliticsGirl:

Now there’s a point where we have to ask ourselves how competent and qualified a woman, especially a woman of color, has to be in this country to be taken seriously, because to say someone with all of those qualifications is incompetent or unready to lead just makes no sense.

Whether you support Kamala Harris, dislike her, or know nothing about her, take ten minutes and watch this video. It’s filled with gems I could quote at length, but really, just watch.

But allow me one more:

if we can just put aside our country’s sad history with racism and misogyny, and realize that we are in an incredibly powerful position with a kind, competent, forward thinking incrementalist running for reelection, and a powerful, passionate, brilliant progressive waiting in the wings, we will see that we have a winning ticket. And the sooner we realize that, the less powerful those who seek to undermine it will be.

I don’t know how I’ve not heard of PoliticsGirl before today. I instantly subscribed to her YouTube channel based on this one video, and the rest of what I’ve since watched are equally impressive.

She also has her first book coming out, which I’ve preordered.

Rebekah Valentine, writing for IGN:

Microsoft is reportedly shuttering a major diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) team, according to an internal email sent by the team’s leader to a significant number of Microsoft staff last week….

Color me surprised. In 2020, many companies—like Microsoft, Google, Meta, and Apple— implemented (or significantly expanded) DEI programs and racial equity initiatives under protest—literally.

In the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the subsequent protests against police brutality, corporations were feeling significant pressure from their Black employees (and customers) to demonstrate their commitment to racial justice. Few of these companies actually wanted change; they just didn’t want to appear callous and uncaring. Many of my friends and DEI colleagues had no doubt at the time that these shows of commitment would be temporary, and would go away as soon as the pressure eased, or they were given an out.

Well…

• June, 2023: The Supreme Court rules to end affirmative action in college admissions.
• July, 2023: Fortune 100 companies were warned (paywall; Apple News+) by thirteen Republican state attorneys general about “the legal consequences for using race as a factor in hiring and employment practices” and that “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs could be a form of discrimination.”
• August, 2023: The same people who successfully sued to end affirmative action in college admissions also sued an organization which awarded grants to Black women small-business owners for discriminating against non-Black women. (As of June, 2024 that program is now on hold following an appeals court ruling that says the program is “substantially likely to violate… equal rights under the law” clauses.)
• Also August 2023: A lawsuit accuses law firms of discriminating against white candidates (paywall; Apple News+).
• This week came another lawsuit, accusing Northwestern Law School of hiring discrimination against “a trio of unnamed professors tenured at unspecified law schools who say they are ‘able and ready to apply’ for a job… [b]ut they have not done so, allegedly because they are ‘unable to compete on an equal basis with faculty candidates who are women, racial minorities, homosexuals, or individuals who engage in gender-nonconforming behavior or identify with a gender that departs from their biological sex.’”

I’m sure all of these lawsuits are mere coincidence, not coordination.

The email from the former Microsoft employee, as quoted by IGN, said:

Unofficially in my opinion, not specific to Microsoft alone, but Project 2025 looms and true systems change work associated with DEI programs everywhere are no longer business critical or smart as they were in 2020. Hence the purposeful and strategic 3-5 year shelf life of many company’s inclusion commitments post the murder of George Floyd are being reevaluated. And the way I see it, the timing was impeccable so businesses everywhere could reevaluate the path forward should their U.S. federal contracts be at risk if the work continues on its face.

Of course Project 2025 is a part of this discussion; it’s effectively a polemic from and about “aggrieved white men”. Corporate America, in addition to their innate dislike of DEI programs, is still mostly run by white men, and is anticipating a far-right administration that’s deeply allergic to diversity and equity in general. As my good friend Ron Lue-Sang wrote to me,

My usual cynicism about corporate commitments to DEI led me to forget that these companies are planning for a Project 2025 future where DEI programs aren’t just labeled as unnecessary, they’d be totally seen as counterproductive with regards to currying favor with the federal government.

Is there any real surprise, then that Google and Meta started cutting programs throughout 2023? Now Microsoft. Will Apple be next?

Update: John Deere also “rolls back DEI policies.”

It was always just lip service. Companies never really bought into the progressive ideals. They just wanted to shut up Black folk.

Paresh Dave, reporting for Wired:

“This is the final straw,” Musk commented on a post about a new California law protecting the privacy of transgender children. “Because of this law and the many others that preceded it, attacking both families and companies, SpaceX will now move its HQ from Hawthorne, California, to Starbase, Texas.” 

So, Elon Musk is upset his bigotry is being curtailed in California, so he’s moving SpaceX to Texas, where, apparently, bigots are more welcome?

Don’t let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya.

Imagine being an unbigoted Texan realizing that Texas is the place bigots want to be. Texans, ask yourselves: “Are we the baddies?

More seriously, SpaceX is the only way for the U.S. to get to the International Space Station (other than Russia—which is obviously a non-starter).

Being in business with a company run by a mercurial bigot who makes decisions on a whim is dangerous. The U.S. government needs to declare that access to SpaceX is a national security necessity—and Musk a national security risk—and nationalize SpaceX, removing Musk in the process.

While they’re at it, nationalize Starlink too.

Michael Scherer, Washington Post:

President Biden is finalizing plans to endorse major changes to the Supreme Court in the coming weeks, including proposals for legislation to establish term limits for the justices and an enforceable ethics code, according to two people briefed on the plans.…

The announcement would mark a major shift for Biden, a former chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who has long resisted calls to make substantive changes to the high court. The potential changes come in response to growing outrage among his supporters about recent ethics scandals surrounding Justice Clarence Thomas and decisions by the new court majority that have changed legal precedent on issues including abortion and federal regulatory powers.

Long overdue. Several recent SCOTUS decisions are destabilizing our democracy. Expanding the Courts and introducing term limits is a good start.

Alison Durkee, writing for Forbes, expands on how term limits would work.

After their term is up, justices wouldn’t resign completely, but would only hear a smaller subset of cases: Only the nine most recently appointed justices would hear most cases, while other justices would join in for cases that originate in the Supreme Court, which include disputes between states or foreign officials.

That’s a clever workaround to the constitutional “lifetime appointment” (which, as noted in the article, is stated as “judges… shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour.”)

Apropos of my aforelinked piece is this, from Pew Research:

Nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults (65%) say the way the president is elected should be changed so that the winner of the popular vote nationwide wins the presidency.

Younger people are more in favor of it than older people. 82% of Democrats support it, while only 47% of Republicans do.

The ideological divide is unsurprising. Democrats wish to press their small numerical advantage. On the flip side, Republicans recognize the massive power imbalance the Electoral College gives them.

In fact, the more politically savvy Republicans are, the more they support keeping the status quo:

[72% of] [h]ighly politically engaged Republicans overwhelmingly favor keeping the Electoral College….

[51% of] Republicans with a moderate level of engagement [want] to keep the system as is….

[70%] of Republicans with lower levels of political engagement… back moving to a popular vote.

In summary, less-engaged Republicans may believe “one person, one vote” sounds fair. More-engaged Republicans realize this likely means losing most presidential elections.

The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia…. It has been enacted into law by 17 states and DC with 209 electoral votes…. It needs an additional 61 electoral votes to go into effect.

When last I looked at this site (in 2016), there were 165 electoral votes. Back then I called it “a brilliant hack.”

Since 2016, seven more states have signed the bill into law. Each of those states voted for the Democratic candidate in 2016 (when the popular vote candidate lost the election) and again in 2020.

Eliminating the effect of the Electoral College may be the only way to ensure meaningful presidential elections, but securing those 61 electoral votes may prove Herculean: No solidly Republican state has yet to sign on.

Joe Lucia at Awful Announcing:

The dust has settled, the votes have been counted, and Awful Announcing’s readers have voted on their favorite (and least favorite) local MLB broadcast teams for the 2024 season.

Any ranking of “best baseball announcers” will necessarily be partisan, driven as much by fan interest as by any objective quality.

No surprise, then, that I disagree with the results. San Francisco should have taken this, as they did in four of the six previous contests—including last year's. Duane Kuiper, Mike Krukow, Dave Flemming, and Jon Miller are—individually and collectively—the best broadcasters in the game. The new guys—Shawn Estes, Javier Lopez, Hunter Pence—are solid up-and-comers. I enjoy them enough that I’ll turn on the radio and mute the TV if the game is nationally televised.

Of course, the last time I regularly listened to Mets baseball was the late ’90s, when their announcers were Bob Cohen, Gary Thorne, Ralph Kiner, and Tim McCarver. I have no idea if their current team of Gary Cohen, Ron Darling, and Keith Hernandez is actually good.

Like I said, partisan.

More important than any of that, though: the Giants and Mets beat out both the Dodgers (5) and the Yankees (22).

I do feel awful for Oakland (29), though. And someone had to be last, White Sox fans.

Apple PR:

Today, Apple introduced HomePod mini in midnight….

Why, though?

The best explanation I've heard so far is from the fellas over at ATP: Color matching. The old ‘space gray’ and the new ‘midnight’ may be superficially similar, but they're not the same. If you buy a second one to form a stereo pair, the old and the new won't match.

That would be a very Apple-y thing to consider, of course, but I wonder if it’s also Apple’s way of saying “no new HomePod minis on the horizon,” which is a bummer for those of us with a HomePod (or mini) in literally every room of our home, and who were hoping for new hardware that supports Apple Intelligence.

Staying with today’s theme of divisive topics, Robert Sietsema at Eater NY:

Which hot dog is better: Papaya King or Gray’s Papaya?

Can’t we all just get along?

Truthfully, I’ve eaten probably hundreds of hot dogs from both. They’re both tasty and I’m thrilled they’re still battling for supremacy.

I very much enjoy Papaya King, but I slightly prefer Gray’s—partly because I find their dogs more flavorful; partly because their (former) locations in Hell’s Kitchen and Greenwich Village were closer to where I hung out. Many a late-night bar crawl ended at Sixth and 8th.

Rivalries have helped define the New York City hot dog: a slender, all-beef frank with a natural skin, served with a choice of mustard, sauerkraut, and, later, stewed onions.

I’m a simple man. A dog with mustard, that’s all I need.

Over the years, Papaya King has added over a dozen variations to its basic hot dog featuring incongruous toppings like pastrami, pineapple, jalapenos, grated cheddar, onion rings, hot honey, and mushrooms, generally priced at $7 each. You should ignore these: They’re a diversion from the flavor that defines the New York City frank. 

Completely correct. Same for the abomination that is the Chicago dog. Woof.

Donald Trump, today:

After lengthy deliberation and thought, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the Great State of Ohio.

J.D. Vance, 2016:

Trump is cultural heroin. He makes some feel better for a bit. But he cannot fix what ails them, and one day they’ll realize it.

J.D. Vance, 2016:

I go back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical a--hole like Nixon who wouldn't be that bad (and might even prove useful) or that he's America's Hitler.

J.D. Vance, 2016:

I’m not a Trump supporter, but I even feel a certain attachment, and I get a little bit cheery when he says certain things on the campaign trail, when he criticizes the elites.

Says the bestselling author, Yale Law School graduate, Silicon Valley venture capitalist, and protege to billionaire Peter Thiel (who donated $10 million to Vance’s 2022 Senate campaign).

Also:

Vance, whose full name is James David Vance, will turn 40 in August.

Not yet 40, with eighteen months of political experience, and he’s now the GOP’s Vice Presidential nominee. Sounds right.

A reminder that Sarah Palin was older (44), and more experienced (a two-term mayor, and Governor of Alaska for eighteen months) when she was selected as John McCain’s VP pick. We remember how well that turned out.

So my only question is: Who plays J.D. Vance on SNL?

My pick is Seth Rogen.

Timothy Snyder at Thinking about...

If a radical-right politician such as Donald Trump is the victim of an assassination attempt, should we not presume that the perpetrator is on the radical left?

No, we should not.

That sort of presumption, based on us-and-them thinking, is dangerous. It begins a chain of thinking that can lead to more violence. We are the victims, and they are the aggressors. We have been hurt, so it must have been them. No one thinking this way ever asks about the violence on one’s own side.

Snyder offers an historical perspective from the 1920s and 1930s to Saturday’s shocking violence.

(via Dave Spector.)

John Gruber at Daring Fireball:

Do not accept, not even at this fraught moment, the claims of anyone blaming yesterday on Democrats describing Trump as a threat to democracy. Saying so is not even on the spectrum of hyperbole. We saw what we saw after the 2020 election, and especially on January 6.

Do not fret, either, that yesterday’s event somehow cedes the election to Trump, on the grounds that he survived and projected strength. The side that wants a strongman was already voting for him.

Spot on.

We also ended with similar calls to action:

So here is what the Democrats should do. Tomorrow morning Chuck Schumer should put on the floor of the Senate a law mandating strict background checks for all gun purchases….

Give it a name like the “Anti Political and School Violence Act”.

Way more professional than mine.