- So much essential background info to read. But knowing is half the battle™, apparently, so here we go. First, Peter Shane in The Atlantic explains how GOP legislation to lastingly undercut government regulation will work. Both acts have passed the House, so this is mandatory (and not at all tedious) reading | Worry about an impending constitutional crisis is real; and in response, a group of constitutional lawyers and scholars have formed United to Protect Democracy. Read UPD’s analysis of White House Communications with the DOJ and FBI here: it tells you why this is a big problem | Ross Douthat writing in the New York Times about Republicans’ challenges in passing healthcare legislation | A coalition’s response to proposals to require immigrants to turn over private passwords at the board | And, like an old penny, we’re facing another debt ceiling–even more interesting in a uniformly fiscally-conservative era.
- Mark Danner writes in the New York Review of Books a chilling and level-headed piece on “What Trump Could Do” | Meanwhile, the Trump brand continues to expand in dubious and suspicious ways, writes Brook Seipel in the Hill | And Trump’s consumption of, and romance with, Fox News continues to blossom | An in-depth piece by Iona Craig exposing the failures of Trump’s Yemen raid
- More tips and updates from the resistance: In the NY Times, Amanda Hess writes about how to escape your filter bubble | A nice, and only very partial, summary of what anti-Trump activism has accomplished so far | And we should all probably buy and read Timothy Snyder’s new On Tyranny
- A couple of reminders that America’s internal turmoil is nothing compared to what’s happening elsewhere: Melissa Gronlund, in Artforum, reports on the international “Safeguarding Endangered Cultural Heritage” conference in Abu Dhabi, with special emphasis on Syrian heritage sites | Britain’s Channel Four news airs short video showcasing the chaos and devastation of Aleppo families inside a barebones, resource-poor, beseiged hospital.
- In honor of International Women’s Day, Madison Pauly writes in Mother Jones about the history of men getting credit for women’s accomplishments | Mary Beard in the London Review of Books on women in power | This exceedingly powerful speech by Sikh-American civil rights advocate Valarie Kaur to unite in these dark times | A funny, tiny interview with the formidable and wonderful Ursula Le Guin in the TLS
- For a brief respite from politics: A fascinating long-form piece in The Intercept investigating the systemic failures of arson “science” and forensics and the resulting false convictions | A brilliant meditation and cultural history of icebergs, by George Phillip LeBourdais | In news of the post-apocalyptic, Fukushima refugees are returning to their homes only to be menaced by radioactive boars (thank you, VOA) | Meanwhile, in news of the slippery, an acquarium octopus escapes his tank and finds his way to bigger waters. Freedom!
- Finally, yet another SNL video that nails it: