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On my first day as a substitute teacher at Prospect Heights High School in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn in the early 90s, I was filling in for a Physics teacher who had been stabbed in the hand with a pencil for trying to confiscate a student’s Walkman. As a Humanities major, I was probably less concerned about the threat of violence than the class subject matter. This was during a particularly violent and crime-ridden era in NYC. There was a crack epidemic, 2000 plus murders a year, and the Crown Heights riots were about to erupt in the blocks surrounding our campus. And Prospect Heights was considered a bottom-five school — we had metal detectors at the front doors and security guards roaming the halls. One thing we didn’t have, even during a notorious era at a notorious school in a neighborhood that, back then, most New Yorkers would have tried to avoid, were arrests. So I’ve got to wonder: What the hell is going on in Texas? (In the spirit of transparency, I should mention that this is not the first time that question has entered my mind). Somehow, offenses that used to get kids sent to the principal’s office are instead getting them sucked into a school-to-jail pipeline. “Children ages 10 to 13 were referred for prosecution after incidents in schools more than 47,000 times since 2014, an analysis by The New York Times and The San Antonio Express-News found. About 4,800 students in that age group were referred during the 2024-25 academic year alone.” Nearly five thousand students getting hauled toward juvie? How is that not totally crazy? NYC (Gift Article): For Texas Schoolchildren, Minor Misbehavior Can Mean Criminal Charges. “William Shaw, a juvenile judge in San Antonio, said that many of the cases that came before him could have been handled by a school principal. ‘Kids are sometimes not going to get along ... They may end up pushing each other, maybe even fighting. That can be considered adolescent behavior. It isn’t necessary to arrest.” I taught at that high school in Brooklyn for two years, and I don’t remember a single student being taken away in handcuffs. (Full disclosure: I never tried to take away anyone’s Walkman, and after that first day, I refused to ever teach Physics again. In Texas, that could probably get me arrested.)
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The Art of the Kneel
Thomas Friedman in the NYT (Gift Article): Trump’s Democracy-for-Diesel Deal Shames Us All. “Donald Trump, meet Neville Chamberlain. When future students search online for ‘sellout,’ ‘appeaser’ or ‘traitor to his country’s core values,’ their two pictures will come up first, side by side. And deservedly so. At least Chamberlain was trying, in what proved to be lethally misguided fashion, to avoid a world war. Trump is trying to avoid losing a few seats in Congress — and is likely to be no more successful in achieving his goal than Chamberlain was in achieving his. I have never believed that Trump was somehow an agent of Russia’s leader, Vladimir Putin, or in his pay. It is much worse. He simply does not cherish democracy. He cherishes money.” (One of many things that disturbs me about this is how little the American electorate cares about this disastrous betrayal of our values and allies. The deal won’t reduce fuel prices, but if it did, it would probably boost Trump’s approval rating. Sadly, we probably have to amend Friedman’s headline to: Trump’s Democracy-for-Diesel Deal Should Shame Us All.)
+ The diesel deal is terrible. The cutting off of high-speed Starlink access is even worse. David French: “It’s horrible to have to type these words, but the president of the United States is throwing Vladimir Putin a lifeline. He is turning the American government against Ukraine, funding Russia and — perhaps worst of all — playing directly into Putin’s theory of victory.” Russia Was Losing. Enter President Trump.
+ But wait, there’s more. In addition to the diesel deal and the Starlink limitations, Ukraine ‘has run out of Patriot interceptor missiles.’
+ “Ukraine struck a Russian oil refinery on Thursday, after President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv was ‘done’ supporting a ceasefire on energy targets announced by US President Donald Trump.” (Russia also ignored the announcement of an imaginary energy target ceasefire, but only Ukraine will incur Trump’s wrath.)
3
Oncoming Training
“Three men stride across a cavernous textile factory floor of Texworth in the southern Indian city of Karur, handing GoPros and smart glasses to workers, including 40-year-old Shoba Kirubakaran. She’s packing yellow aprons decorated with chickens into plastic wrapping for the brand Designs By Danica. It’s the third time Kirubakaran says she’s been told to don a GoPro. It’s recording her every hand gesture, to train AI robots to take over this job.” These workers help train robots who could one day steal their jobs. (I’m pretty sure I’m doing the same every time I send an edition of this newsletter...)
+ An edtech worker’s account of what got left behind: How AI replaced me. “In the tech industry, it’s not good enough to just use AI. You have to believe in it, too.” This trend reminds me of an old Woody Allen line: “My father worked for the same firm for 12 years. They fired him and replaced him with a tiny gadget that does everything my father does, only much better. The depressing thing is my mother ran out and bought one.”
4
Circular Firing Squad
After pretending that live-streaming the firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan was his idea, Trump has now announced that it won’t be happening. Of course, the Hegseth announcement that it would happen, Trump’s confirmation that he had made that decision, and the subsequent global coverage, has already done a lot of damage. Trump, after bipartisan backlash, says Pentagon won’t livestream execution of Fort Hood shooter. (Maybe it was the backlash. Or maybe Trump was just worried that Hegseth would miss.)
5
Extra, Extra
Cheap Power: “Over decades, Saudi Arabia has invested hundreds of billions of dollars in building an advanced military, putting the kingdom among the top 10 nations in terms of arms spending ... but the missiles and drones used by the Yemeni militia are difficult to detect and stop.” Why Does Saudi Arabia Struggle to Stop Houthi Attacks? (The future of war doesn’t resemble its past. And that has provided an advantage to smaller adversaries. We’re seeing the trend play out across the world, and (with all due respect to testosterone) it could be one of America’s most pressing military challenges.)
+ Narcos: “The Pentagon is expanding its fight against drug traffickers, even as the plans recall a long and bloody history of U.S. intervention in the region.” U.S. Is Sending Hundreds of Troops to Latin America.
+ Separated at Birth: “More than half of the counties in the United States no longer have a hospital with inpatient labor and delivery services. One in three counties is designated a ‘maternity care desert,’ with no obstetric clinicians or birthing facilities at all.” TNR: The Increasingly Long Drive to Give Birth in Rural America.
+ Filling Up a Dance Card: “A list obtained by The Washington Post reveals all the major donors to President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project, including previously undisclosed contributors who have benefited from regulatory decisions, government contracts and, in one case, a pardon for a family member.” Secret documents reveal donors behind $330 million for Trump’s ballroom. (So much for American exceptionalism. Once the rules changed, it took about five minutes for everyone to get on board.)
+ Lowering the Bar: Katie Zacharia did not pass the bar exam, senior administration official says. (So now, they’ve invented some new theory about the difference between being a lawyer and being an attorney. Don’t be fooled. This is all about being a liar.)