VE Day-the lesson

On this day 80 years ago the Nazis were beaten in Europe.

I can always remember my Nan talking about the collective euphoria felt throughout the country when they heard the news.

A sense of unity that led to a belief that we should look out each other. Hence the NHS and the welfare state arriving in the years after.

85 million died on all sides in World War Two.

Very few people saw it coming until too late.

Never normalise Nazis. Never ignore fascism.

That's the lesson.

Matt Haig
https://www.threads.com/@mattzhaig/post/DJZwMqrMD0s?xmt=AQF0zi3axZ_WqreSEREyA4Upz0gxwemV9528BdG74aQGFw

Off the rails

Hey look, the GOP and its leaders are lunatics! As I published a book about months into Trump's first presidency. Chapter 40 is called "When the GOP Went Off the Rails." And here are a couple of passages from Chapter 46, "As Fantasyland Goes So Goes the Nation."

Kurt Andersen https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/06/business/media/trump-conspiracy-theories.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Refuse to stay silent

So many of you wrote to me about my appearance on 60 Minutes and offered such kind words of support. Thank you.🙏

I hope you read this, consider how you can speak out as well, and share with others. https://www.democracydocket.com/opinion/my-time-on-60-minutes-and-why-i-refuse-to-stay-silent/

Trust & openness

"To be a good human being is to have a kind of openness to the world, an ability to trust uncertain things beyond your own control."

Martha Nussbaum (who may well be my favorite living philosopher and who turns 78 today) on how to live with our human fragility: https://www.themarginalian.org/2014/03/14/martha-nussbaum-bill-moyers-world-of-ideas/

A.I. Can Trick You, Warns Book That Hid A.I.’s Help Writing It

…The book, Mr. Colamedici said, was meant to show the dangers of "cognitive apathy" that could develop if thinking were delegated to machines and if people don't cultivate their discernment.

"I tried to create a performance, an experience that is not just the book," he said.

Mr. Colamedici teaches what he calls "the art of prompting," or how to ask A.I. smart questions and give it actionable instructions, at the European Institute of Design in Rome. He said that he often sees two extreme, if opposite, responses to tools like ChatGPT, with many students wanting to rely on them exclusively and many teachers thinking that A.I. is inherently wrong. He instead tries to teach users how to discern fact from fabrication and how to engage with the tools productively...

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/30/world/europe/hypnocracy-ai-philosopher-book.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Oxymorons by William Matthews |

"…Religious freedom—doesn't that sound good?"

…

https://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php%3Fdate=2014%252F05%252F03.html

How the Public Library Became an American Civic Institution | Full Docum...

https://youtube.com/watch?v=w7tRNkiLz9A&si=B4BSZny_7TtanOXM

Our stupid celebrity culture…

This Is The Stoicism Talk The Navy Banned (Ryan Holiday At The U.S. Nava...

Bonhoeffer’s theory of stupidity

https://www.threads.com/@amouthful_of_cherries/post/DI5B9Rtv6gv?xmt=AQGzXwNHi3PaXrT_DZLOzG47kLDIQjuRdlCAEyCY5c4tJQ