Reading List

The most recent articles from a list of feeds I subscribe to.

X just paywalled Grok’s deepfakes. They’re still everywhere.

What happens when you merge the world’s most toxic social media cesspool with the world’s most unhinged, uninhibited, and intentionally “spicy” AI chatbot? It looks a lot like what we’re seeing play out on X right now. Users have been feeding images into xAI’s Grok chatbot, which boasts a powerful and largely uncensored image and […]

Erika Kirk and Marjorie Taylor Greene are playing with the same archetype

As President Donald Trump settles into his last term, his approval ratings sinking ever lower, an urgent new question has begun to coalesce at the center of MAGA: Would the movement survive without Trump’s force of personality? What kind of person has the juice to lead it besides Trump? While the question remains unanswered, a […]

How right-wing creators bend reality to their will

This story appeared in Today, Explained, a daily newsletter that helps you understand the most compelling news and stories of the day. Subscribe here. The video opens with a question and a slamming door. Nick Shirley, the 23-year-old right-wing content creator who rose to sudden infamy and influence last week, confronts two Somali women as the […]

The new food pyramid is lying to you

If you take anything at all from the latest edition of the federal dietary guidelines, out this week, it should be… not much. Although US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. described them as “the most significant reset of federal nutrition policy in history,” the new guidelines don’t reveal anything new about nutrition science, and […]

Trump’s menacingly dishonest response to the Minnesota ICE shooting

Renee Nicole Good sat idling in her car Wednesday, observing an ongoing ICE operation. The 37-year-old then attempted to drive away. In response, another ICE officer shot her to death.  It is possible that we still lack some significant context for Good’s killing. But her final moments were recorded by multiple bystanders. And the footage […]