Karen Zarker
@karenzarker.bsky.social
Managing Editor, PopMatters
“Why would one of the richest men in the world commit such an act of injustice?… if …Musk himself were fully informed about this matter, he would likely be deeply ashamed.”
If only.
www.propublica.org/article/doge...
If only.
www.propublica.org/article/doge...
DOGE Targeted Him on Social Media. Then the Taliban Took His Family.
Afghan scholar Mohammad Halimi, who fled the Taliban in 2021, had worked to help U.S. diplomats understand his homeland. Then DOGE put his family’s lives at risk by exposing his sensitive work for a U...
www.propublica.org
August 25, 2025 at 12:08 PM
“Why would one of the richest men in the world commit such an act of injustice?… if …Musk himself were fully informed about this matter, he would likely be deeply ashamed.”
If only.
www.propublica.org/article/doge...
If only.
www.propublica.org/article/doge...
“If intelligence analysts at the CIA saw our rivals engage in this kind of great-power suicide, we would break out the bourbon. Instead, the sound we hear is of champagne glasses clinking in the Kremlin and Zhongnanhai.”
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
A Letter to America’s Discarded Public Servants
You all deserved better.
www.theatlantic.com
August 23, 2025 at 12:58 PM
“If intelligence analysts at the CIA saw our rivals engage in this kind of great-power suicide, we would break out the bourbon. Instead, the sound we hear is of champagne glasses clinking in the Kremlin and Zhongnanhai.”
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
The violence and suffering in Sudan is neither distant nor remote.
Read and realize.
Another excellent essay by the brilliant @anneapplebaum
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
Read and realize.
Another excellent essay by the brilliant @anneapplebaum
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
The Most Nihilistic Conflict on Earth
Sudan’s devastating civil war shows what will replace the liberal order: anarchy and greed.
www.theatlantic.com
August 17, 2025 at 12:16 PM
The violence and suffering in Sudan is neither distant nor remote.
Read and realize.
Another excellent essay by the brilliant @anneapplebaum
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
Read and realize.
Another excellent essay by the brilliant @anneapplebaum
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
“Now here we are, 100 years after ‘Mammy’s Little Alligator Bait,’ and the bigots are once again using cartoon alligators to meme-ify racial violence, this time against immigrants.” #EzraClaytanDaniels
www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
Contributor: Jim Crow meets ICE at 'Alligator Alcatraz'
'Alligator Alcatraz' is a rebrand of an age-old threat and a euphemism for cruelty wrapped in a bad joke.
www.latimes.com
July 28, 2025 at 11:03 AM
“Now here we are, 100 years after ‘Mammy’s Little Alligator Bait,’ and the bigots are once again using cartoon alligators to meme-ify racial violence, this time against immigrants.” #EzraClaytanDaniels
www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
You homo crustaceous, you.
A fascinating, entertaining essay by paleontologist-futurist Michael Garfield that swivels its vision about with the dexterity of a long-eyed swimmer crab.
aeon.co/essays/are-h...
A fascinating, entertaining essay by paleontologist-futurist Michael Garfield that swivels its vision about with the dexterity of a long-eyed swimmer crab.
aeon.co/essays/are-h...
Are humans destined to evolve into crabs? | Aeon Essays
‘Everything becomes crab’ is more than an absurd meme. The crab is a deep symbol of our devil’s bargain with technology
aeon.co
July 20, 2025 at 3:15 PM
You homo crustaceous, you.
A fascinating, entertaining essay by paleontologist-futurist Michael Garfield that swivels its vision about with the dexterity of a long-eyed swimmer crab.
aeon.co/essays/are-h...
A fascinating, entertaining essay by paleontologist-futurist Michael Garfield that swivels its vision about with the dexterity of a long-eyed swimmer crab.
aeon.co/essays/are-h...
“To compensate for being low-income, I’m low-maintenance and low-upkeep. The human equivalent of a plastic lawn. Tidy! Durable! From a distance, it looks completely real!” #workingpoor
macleans.ca/society/conf...
macleans.ca/society/conf...
Confessions of the Working Poor - Macleans.ca
I work hard, buy quality clothes and fake my way through dinner-party conversations. I'm also part of a fast-growing Canadian underclass.
macleans.ca
July 17, 2025 at 11:48 AM
“To compensate for being low-income, I’m low-maintenance and low-upkeep. The human equivalent of a plastic lawn. Tidy! Durable! From a distance, it looks completely real!” #workingpoor
macleans.ca/society/conf...
macleans.ca/society/conf...
“Trumpworld understands that—in controlling the infrastructure layer of global finance, technology, and security—it has vast machineries of coercion at its disposal.”
www.wired.com/story/enshit...
www.wired.com/story/enshit...
The Enshittification of American Power
First Google and Facebook, then the world. Under Trump 2.0, US statecraft is starting to mimic the worst tendencies of Big Tech.
www.wired.com
July 16, 2025 at 8:14 PM
“Trumpworld understands that—in controlling the infrastructure layer of global finance, technology, and security—it has vast machineries of coercion at its disposal.”
www.wired.com/story/enshit...
www.wired.com/story/enshit...
Reposted by Karen Zarker
THE 70 BEST ALBUMS OF 2025 SO FAR
The records offer sublime music as major artists return with new work and brilliant new sounds bubble up from the underground and worldwide.
The records offer sublime music as major artists return with new work and brilliant new sounds bubble up from the underground and worldwide.
The 70 Best Albums of 2025 So Far » PopMatters
The 70 best albums of 2025 offer sublime music as major artists return with new work and brilliant new sounds bubble up from the underground and worldwide.
tinyurl.com
June 26, 2025 at 11:58 AM
THE 70 BEST ALBUMS OF 2025 SO FAR
The records offer sublime music as major artists return with new work and brilliant new sounds bubble up from the underground and worldwide.
The records offer sublime music as major artists return with new work and brilliant new sounds bubble up from the underground and worldwide.
“Not enough of our lawmakers have spoken up, much less taken action, against the erosion of civil rights and legal norms currently underway.” #ImmigrantsRights
www.latimes.com/california/s....
www.latimes.com/california/s....
Commentary: Rep. Judy Chu wants to go inside immigration detention facilities. ICE wants to stop her
As tens of thousands of immigrants are detained and held inside federal detention centers, the power of federal lawmakers such as Judy Chu to provide oversight and answers is even more critical — and ...
www.latimes.com
June 25, 2025 at 10:22 AM
“Not enough of our lawmakers have spoken up, much less taken action, against the erosion of civil rights and legal norms currently underway.” #ImmigrantsRights
www.latimes.com/california/s....
www.latimes.com/california/s....
“‘Feminists are the most visible political power in the opposition; we have become actors on the streets across Russia,’” – Daria Serenko
www.thedailybeast.com/meet-the-wom...
www.thedailybeast.com/meet-the-wom...
Meet the Woman Who Vladimir Putin Fears the Most
Struggling to break Russia’s all-mighty male state, 32-year-old feminist Daria Serenko poses a dire threat to the Kremlin.
www.thedailybeast.com
June 10, 2025 at 11:07 AM
“‘Feminists are the most visible political power in the opposition; we have become actors on the streets across Russia,’” – Daria Serenko
www.thedailybeast.com/meet-the-wom...
www.thedailybeast.com/meet-the-wom...
Yeah, where the hell is Barack Obama?
“‘I’m sick of Obama staying above the fray while that fray is swallowing us whole.’”
www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
“‘I’m sick of Obama staying above the fray while that fray is swallowing us whole.’”
www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
Where Is Barack Obama?
The “audacity of hope” presidency has given way to the fierce lethargy of semi-retirement.
www.theatlantic.com
June 9, 2025 at 10:38 AM
Yeah, where the hell is Barack Obama?
“‘I’m sick of Obama staying above the fray while that fray is swallowing us whole.’”
www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
“‘I’m sick of Obama staying above the fray while that fray is swallowing us whole.’”
www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
“The economic crisis of 2025 started in the mind of one man, but Trump’s tariffs are dislocating planet-wide networks of trade. The dislocation has already sliced trillions of dollars from the value of U.S. corporations.”
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
The Coming Economic Nightmare
Trump’s tariffs could cause stagflation for the first time in decades. It may go on for a long, long time.
www.theatlantic.com
April 26, 2025 at 2:38 PM
“The economic crisis of 2025 started in the mind of one man, but Trump’s tariffs are dislocating planet-wide networks of trade. The dislocation has already sliced trillions of dollars from the value of U.S. corporations.”
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
Bliss amidst an apocalypse?
March 15, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Bliss amidst an apocalypse?
Where are the #Democrats @DNC right now? Silence.
“You’re telling people what they care about — at no point are you asking them what they care about.”
www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
“You’re telling people what they care about — at no point are you asking them what they care about.”
www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
How the Democrats Blew It
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump campaign insiders talk about the 2024 campaign, voter outreach, social media, and that Las Vegas Sphere ad.
www.rollingstone.com
February 26, 2025 at 12:32 PM
Where are the #Democrats @DNC right now? Silence.
“You’re telling people what they care about — at no point are you asking them what they care about.”
www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
“You’re telling people what they care about — at no point are you asking them what they care about.”
www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
“[Republicans are] scared shitless about death threats and Gestapo-like stuff,”
www.vanityfair.com/news/story/t...
www.vanityfair.com/news/story/t...
“They’re Scared Shitless”: The Threat of Political Violence Informing Trump’s Grip on Congress
With the president smashing norm after norm, even lawmakers within his party have feared for their personal safety, and at least one has told confidants that it has swayed his decision-making.
www.vanityfair.com
February 21, 2025 at 8:33 PM
“[Republicans are] scared shitless about death threats and Gestapo-like stuff,”
www.vanityfair.com/news/story/t...
www.vanityfair.com/news/story/t...
January 31, 2025 at 1:08 AM
“Adaptable as the liquid metal T-1000 of Terminator 2 [Neoliberalism ingrains] destructive belief systems in work and family life in ways people don’t notice. The consequences of decades of inculcating a toxic mindset are now very clear.“
www.popmatters.com/patriot-stev...
www.popmatters.com/patriot-stev...
Dark Comedy 'Patriot' Illuminates the Dark Reality of Neoliberalism » PopMatters
The dark comedy Patriot illuminates how neoliberalism makes choices for us disguisedly, using entrepreneurial agency as a fig leaf to obscure manipulation.
www.popmatters.com
January 29, 2025 at 12:47 AM
“Adaptable as the liquid metal T-1000 of Terminator 2 [Neoliberalism ingrains] destructive belief systems in work and family life in ways people don’t notice. The consequences of decades of inculcating a toxic mindset are now very clear.“
www.popmatters.com/patriot-stev...
www.popmatters.com/patriot-stev...
On the sensible side of #stoicism
‘You are unfortunate in my judgment, for you have never been unfortunate’
aeon.co/essays/why-s...
‘You are unfortunate in my judgment, for you have never been unfortunate’
aeon.co/essays/why-s...
Why Stoicism is one of the best mind-hacks ever devised | Aeon Essays
As legions of warriors and prisoners can attest, Stoicism is not grim resolve but a way to wrest happiness from adversity
aeon.co
January 26, 2025 at 6:31 PM
On the sensible side of #stoicism
‘You are unfortunate in my judgment, for you have never been unfortunate’
aeon.co/essays/why-s...
‘You are unfortunate in my judgment, for you have never been unfortunate’
aeon.co/essays/why-s...
Brains Are Not Computers: the Harmful Side of Linguistic Ideology
“…the idea that humans must be information processors…because computers are…is…silly…when…the IP metaphor is…abandoned, it will…be seen that way by historians...”
aeon.co/essays/your-...
“…the idea that humans must be information processors…because computers are…is…silly…when…the IP metaphor is…abandoned, it will…be seen that way by historians...”
aeon.co/essays/your-...
Your brain does not process information and it is not a computer | Aeon Essays
Your brain does not process information, retrieve knowledge or store memories. In short: your brain is not a computer
aeon.co
January 26, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Brains Are Not Computers: the Harmful Side of Linguistic Ideology
“…the idea that humans must be information processors…because computers are…is…silly…when…the IP metaphor is…abandoned, it will…be seen that way by historians...”
aeon.co/essays/your-...
“…the idea that humans must be information processors…because computers are…is…silly…when…the IP metaphor is…abandoned, it will…be seen that way by historians...”
aeon.co/essays/your-...
[Our celebrity political culture] “…a far cry from … front-line activism of Harry Belafonte … or Jane Fonda … [is] … the logical end point of… Obama’s 2008 slogan, “Hope,” … fundamentally empty if it didn’t specify the hoped-for.”
www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
How Hollywood lost the culture war
Its fate hitched to the Democratic Party, Hollywood has reinforced the failure of political imagination that gave us Trump 2.0: reflections on a doomed alliance.
www.latimes.com
January 23, 2025 at 9:15 PM
[Our celebrity political culture] “…a far cry from … front-line activism of Harry Belafonte … or Jane Fonda … [is] … the logical end point of… Obama’s 2008 slogan, “Hope,” … fundamentally empty if it didn’t specify the hoped-for.”
www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
www.latimes.com/entertainmen...