These last few days have been nothing short of frightening. The rhetoric flying around on the right has been outrageous (see below), and many of the people calling for violence towards the “extremist leftists who are destroying America” or the Democrats, are deleting tweets and dialling back their rhetoric today.
You see, an inconvenient truth has emerged. It turns out Tyler Robinson is a Groyper. It’s the first time I’ve heard the term too, and the Groyper Army is a group of alt-right, white nationalist, and Christian nationalist activists led by Nick Fuentes. Apparently, Fuentes has accused Kirk of being insufficiently radical.
No worries though, the President of the United States doesn’t care. He’s decided he’s all in. Here’s a quote:
“The radicals on the right are radical because they don’t want to see crime … The radicals on the left are the problem – and they are vicious and horrible and politically savvy. They want men in women’s sports, they want transgender for everyone, they want open borders. The worst thing that happened to this country.” Ref: Trump declines to call for unity after Charlie Kirk killing in stunning move | Donald Trump | The Guardian.
I really feel for everyone in the US. At some point, a radical leftist will do something unconscionable, and it seems clear the ‘near miss’ of civil war this week might not be the same if/when that happens – because it will happen. In the meantime, I’m sure Nick Fuentes is probably feeling a bit anxious, yes?
Moving on
A big part of the Charlie Kirk story is mis- and disinformation, and outside of this ‘event’, there’s a lot of media on this topic too. The focus in primarily around the launch of the book, Science Under Siege, written by Dr’s Michael Mann and Peter Hoetz. I’m waiting for my copy to arrive – such an important book. We must get a handle on this, we absolutely must for all our sakes.
In the meantime, please check in on your kids today? Mine have both watched the murder online. Apparently, you couldn’t avoid it on their feeds. This means our children are being exposed to many terrible things, and as parents, we can’t do a thing about it. Time to change that – The Awful Ubiquity of Charlie Kirk’s Assassination Video – The Atlantic
A couple of interviews for Science Under Siege
- Joining Forces to Fight Anti-Science | The Brian Lehrer Show | WNYC
- Science Under Siege: A Talk With Peter Hotez and Michael Mann
On that front, 25%? That’s a lot, when you consider vaccination rates for diseases like measles need 95% vaccination rates – Just 1 in 4 Americans believe Trump administration vaccine shifts are based on science, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds | Reuters.
An interesting read on the history of the anti-vaxx movement – it goes way back The strange history of the anti-vaccine movement.
We had Andrew Milroy on The Sh*t Show to talk broadly about AI. Here’s an article worth reading: Are We in an AI Bubble? – The Atlantic.
I found this little video interesting, and these are the people defining our future. Do you trust them? I’m more of a fantasy head than a Sci-Fi head, but you’d hope they understand the messages of the stories that inspires them, yes?
Nepal exploded this week into revolution, and while things look like they are calming down, here’s some context for those who don’t really understand this part of the world. Last I heard, the death toll was up in the low 50s! But what was really shocking is 19 were killed within six hours of the protests starting.
- Former Judge Sushila Karki Named Nepal’s Leader After Gen Z Protests – The New York Times
- Why does Nepal’s crisis matter to South Asia – and the world? | Politics News | Al Jazeera
- How Sudhan Gurung Led Thousands Of Students In Nepal’s Youth Protests | Nepal PM Resigns
- Nepal’s prime minister resigns after social media ban sparks deadly protests | DW News
- Why GenZ has taken over the streets in Nepal
- Nepal lifts social media ban after 19 killed in protests against corruption | Protests News | Al Jazeera
- Nepal police kill at least 14 in protest over social media ban | DW News
Another important insight on South East Asia worth a read – Southeast Asia’s “Anatomy of Choice” Between the Great Powers » Asia Research Institute, NUS.
Hussein Hallak is writing punchy content every week, and I thought this was good – Dumbfuckery: The War Against Reality – by Hussein Hallak. I want to pull this part out of the article.
The Dumbfuck Industrial Complex
The dumbfuckery plaguing our world isn’t organic, it’s manufactured.
The same playbook used by tobacco companies to deny cancer links has been systematically deployed across climate science, vaccines, and historical truth.
Between 2003 and 2010, 140 foundations provided over $558 million to organizations promoting climate denial. The same financial networks fund vaccine misinformation and historical revisionism.
The Five-Stage Doubt Campaign:
- Identify Vulnerabilities: Target areas where scientific consensus exists but public understanding is limited
- Recruit Credentialed Contrarians: Find scientists willing to challenge consensus, regardless of their expertise in the relevant field
- Amplify Uncertainty: Use media campaigns to present contrarian views as equally valid to mainstream science
- Attack Institutions: When evidence becomes overwhelming, attack the credibility of scientific institutions themselves
- Capture Policy: Use manufactured uncertainty to prevent evidence-based policy
This playbook has been deployed across tobacco, climate, vaccines, and elections. The consistency indicates systematic knowledge transfer and strategic planning.
I really appreciated this view – Paul Krugman is worth following on Substack. Why Does the Right Reject Progress? – Paul Krugman.
Planetary crisis
We didn’t have a chance to discuss the planetary crisis on The Sh*t Show, so here’s the articles we wanted to discuss:
- Heat stress and extreme weather threaten 2026 World Cup, report finds | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
- The rewilding milestone Earth has already passed
- Scientists warn polar ice-fixing plans are ‘flawed and dangerous’
- 5 forecasts early climate models got right – the evidence is all around you
- Is Earth’s climate in a state of ‘termination shock’? | New Scientist
- Satellites confirm 1990s sea-level predictions were shockingly accurate | ScienceDaily
- Scientists issue warning after witnessing ‘very shocking’ phenomenon in Arctic: ‘It was not just a marginal record’
- This was the hottest summer on record. If it happens again next year, Britain’s ecosystems won’t cope | Lucy Jones | The Guardian
- Glaciers across North America and Europe have lost an ‘unprecedented’ amount of ice in the past 4 years | Live Science
- New Study Reveals The Doomsday Glacier Is Collapsing Faster Than We Thought – YouTube
- Earth’s capacity to store carbon could max out surprisingly soon
- At least nine killed as Bali rocked by deadly flooding | ABC NEWS
Intense times, we gotta be tough now.
Favorite memes, gifs, etc… of the week
Banksy did good this week
One can’t ignore the whole Epstein story completely, right?
This was a perfect message this week. The only one…
Radical leftist indeed!
My content and my friends
Loved having Andy Milroy on the show this week. We went wide on AI, so have a listen. Great company if you’re walking, cooking, ironing, or just doing something that doesn’t require a lot of thinking.
Dig into the news
As always, there’s plenty more to read, listen to or watch, so do click through to the reads at the image below, and a reminder, this platform has articles going back weeks, so have a scan and read/watch/listen to whatever jumps out at you.
Let me know what caught your attention? Or share with me what has your attention now? There’s a lot going on, which means none of us can cover everything. Besides, it’s always great to get feedback so I know I’m delivering something of value.
Cheers
Andrea
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