28 Sep

Why Democrats stopped talking about climate

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William Lawrence is a Democrat running to represent Michigan’s Lansing-area Seventh Congressional District with a campaign that largely focuses on data centers and affordability. It’s not an unusual story in 2026 — but not long ago, Lawrence was cutting his teeth in progressive politics as a co-founder of the Sunrise Movement, primarily focused on organizing around the climate crisis.His arc, from progressive activist to politician, is emblematic of a bigger trend, as a wave of millennial progressives in midterm races across the country try to lean into issues that have broader, more immediate appeal with voters.But that arc also raises…
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28 Sep

Wait, what are the rules around cellphone etiquette now?

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Recently, while taking the metro to work, I encountered something that shocked me. The train was pulling up, just as the man in front of me tapped to pay to go through the gate, and a woman pushed past me to cut me in line. I still made the train (after I briefly considered acting in a way that would have made us both late for work), but as I passed each stop I got angrier and angrier. Why did she think her commute was more important than someone else’s? We learn to wait our turn when we’re children —…
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New York’s governor wants to “liberate” kids — by taking their phones
28 Sep

New York’s governor wants to “liberate” kids — by taking their phones

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There’s a hot new trend this back-to-school season: cellphone bans. At least eight states have enacted regulations limiting cellphone use in schools so far this year, and many more individual districts and schools have implemented similar policies on their own. The changes are driven by bipartisan concern that teenagers are unable to break away from their phones and concentrate in class, or even just talk to people in real life, as well as growing concern about the pervasive mental health challenges posed by social media. “At first I thought it was going to be really annoying, but it’s actually not…
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New York’s governor wants to “liberate” kids — by taking their phones
28 Sep

Yuval Noah Harari on whether democracy and AI can coexist

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If the internet age has anything like an ideology, it’s that more information and more data and more openness will create a better and more truthful world.That sounds right, doesn’t it? It has never been easier to know more about the world than it is right now, and it has never been easier to share that knowledge than it is right now. But I don’t think you can look at the state of things and conclude that this has been a victory for truth and wisdom.What are we to make of that? Why hasn’t more information made us less ignorant…
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Chat Podcasts Rule the Market—and Always Will
28 Sep

Chat Podcasts Rule the Market—and Always Will

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Nearly every survey of the podcast industry in 2024 agrees on one point: Chat podcasts are king. As video rises in popularity (33 percent of US podcast listeners prefer to consume this way), ad spending increases (estimated to top $4 billion worldwide), and listenership steadily grows at 8 percent year-over-year, it is the chat format—in its combative, enlightening, and sometimes quite unserious splendor—that continually draws people in.The ecosystem is profuse and unpredictable. There are the mainstays that have become fixtures of culture: The Joe Rogan Experience, Armchair Expert, and The Read. Newer fare like I’ve Had It and ShxtsnGigs (more…
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