Balancecraft

Senate Democrats Aim Bill at Breakup of Meatpacking Companies The US meatpacking industry faces a fresh wave of scrutiny, this time from Senate Democrats seeking to allow companies to process only one type of meat and set stricter limits on the beef market.

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Justice for Cricket!!

9. Here are a few other things independent grocery stores invented during the decades when Robinson-Patman was enforced: automatic doors, shopping carts, and loyalty cards. The law protected competition. And that yielded innovation, lower prices, and stronger communities.

Minds Before Brains An excerpt from my new book

A new excerpt from A World Appears: Minds Before Brains - by Michael Pollan - The Microdose themicrodose.substack.com/p/minds-befo...

a pack of kittens closes in a a large dog standing on a chair

David Attenborough [whispering]:

“As the predators close in on their helpless prey, we can only watch in silent horror, for it is not man’s role to interfere in the hierarchy of nature.”

Reminder of the Spineless Nine:
- Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
- Allen Overy Shearman Sterling
- Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft
- Latham & Watkins
- Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
- Milbank
- Willkie Farr & Gallagher
- Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
- Kirkland & Ellis

The Day After (1983 Full, Original - 1:75:1 Aspect Ratio) YouTube video by Hollywood Land

If you’ve never seen The Day After, here’s the complete movie. It aired on Nov. 20, 1983 — just days after the NATO Able Archer 83 excercise which the Soviets thought was a nuclear war. It was just 2 months after Stanislav Petrov disobeyed orders & refused to launch missiles based on a false alarm.

Summers To Resign From Teaching Appointments, Relinquish University Professorship Over Epstein Ties | News | The Harvard Crimson Former Harvard President Larry Summers will resign from his academic and faculty appointments at Harvard at the end of the academic year, relinquishing his University Professorship — Harvard’s highest...

Breaking:

Former Harvard President Larry Summers will resign from his academic and faculty appointments at Harvard at the end of the academic year over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein

He will also relinquish his University Professorship — Harvard's highest faculty distinction.

at last, we have invented retrophenology from the classic Discworld text Don’t Invent Retrophenology

I played the world's first Tetris built into the cover of a magazine.

Paper and glue. Flexible circuits. USB-C recharging!

After the Readout: How the Field Is Interpreting Compass’ Phase 3 Psilocybin Data - Psychedelic Alpha Researchers, clinicians and executives react to Compass Pathways’ second positive Phase 3 psilocybin readout in treatment-resistant depression.

After the Readout: How the Field Is Interpreting Compass’ Phase 3 Psilocybin Data

Researchers, clinicians and executives react to Compass Pathways’ second positive Phase 3 psilocybin readout in treatment-resistant depression.

psychedelicalpha.com/news/after-t...

A federal judge narrowed a pool of 92 prospective jurors in a class action brought by former Twitter investors against Elon Musk, excusing 38 potential jurors who said they couldn't be impartial as Musk's atty said there are "so many people who hate him so much."
www.law360.com/technology/a...

These asks are Weimar-level meekness.

I took part in a 2012 psilocybin trial. What I’m seeing now horrifies me “I took part in a 2012 psilocybin trial. What I’m seeing now horrifies me,” writes Erica Rex, author of the new book “Seeing What Is There.”

www.statnews.com/2026/02/19/p...

This local Wolfdog joined an Olympic ski event and triggered the finish-line camera. This is Nazgul. He snuck into a cross-country skiing sprint this morning and raced the homestretch with some competitors before being escorted home. 14/10 someone get him a medal

Economic Liberties is hiring a number of roles for our Communications, Research, and Rethink Trade teams!

Check them out here: economicliberties.us/careers/

1. How the "Grandpa of the VC Industry" Sabotaged the Rule of (Antitrust) Law in Postwar Germany and Japan Introducing an Urbane Workaholic Banker-Magician-Soldier

Or start at the beginning of the series here: balancecraft.substack.com/p/banker-mag...

photo of General MacArthur from June 1947 cover of Newsweek

General Douglas MacArthur had already clashed with a proxy for powerful interests long before Draper’s arrival.

Did that set up the next battle over reform of postwar Japan?

(And why is Herbert Hoover back??)

balancecraft.substack.com/p/17-hanging...

Red-shouldered Hawks With a Taste for Avocado Join a Growing List of Fruit-Eating Raptors Until now the behavior had been undocumented in the species, but recent research has revealed that more birds of prey consume plants than we realized.

And that's why they could never afford to by a home.

Careers | Join Our Team and Fight Corruption — Public Integrity Project Join the Public Integrity Project careers team, seeking experienced litigators to help raise the cost of corruption in America. Apply now to make an impact.

Our new law firm, the Public Integrity Project, is hiring a senior counsel. We're fighting to raise the cost of corruption in America (e.g., suing to stop people from paying to get their prosecutions dropped). If you want to join the fight, learn more at:

www.publicintegrityproject.com/careers

Researchers used audio-LLMs to interact with Zebra finches

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Our latest event is coming this Saturday. Find more information and register via Zoom at thomaspaine.org/about/events/

One of Big Oil’s Biggest Defenses Is Getting Blown Up For decades, fossil-fuel companies and their climate-change-denying allies obsessively tried to kill the federal government’s right to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions. Like Ahab, they may find that finally harpooning their white whale risks taking them down with it.

In withdrawing its "endangerment finding," the EPA is opening a path of attack for the states against fossil-fuel companies

The Case for Keeping ICE and CBP Defunded - The American Prospect Democrats should not provide one thin dime to MAGA storm troopers.

ICE/CBP have gone unfunded for 3 days; how about 3 years? The best way to claw back the $170 billion immigration enforcement surge in the Big Beautiful Bill is to just claw it back. The 2nd-best way is to slowly drain it by never funding the underlying appropriation. @ryanlcooper.com makes the case:

A color flier. White text on a blue background reads “Did they make you resign in 2025? Come be in our next book!” There is a QR code and a company logo.

Did they make you resign in 2025? Come be in our next book!

We are collecting the best federal resignation letters of the past year into an anthology. If you left US government service for any reason, please check our website for ways you can get involved!

www.bicycle-comics.com/pages/resign...

a color illustration. An excerpt from a classroom worksheet "Exercise E" shows a set of lines from different poems, along with directions on how to label each syllable for stress. The headline of the illustration reads "100% Forsooth Free." There is a logo for Bicycle Comics in the lower right corner.

Help your students to read and understand Shakespeare!

We are biased, but we have the best set of worksheets and lesson plans for teaching iambic pentameter to high school students. We offer a free version and an $8 version, both awesome.

www.bicycle-comics.com/pages/poetry...

Concerns over autocracy in the U.S. continue to grow Is America still a democracy? Scholars tell NPR that after the last year under President Trump, the country has slid closer to autocracy or may already be there.

Is America still a democracy? Scholars tell NPR that after the last year under President Trump, the country has slid closer to autocracy or may already be there. n.pr/4rhf7Wb

Very excited for our upcoming side event on tipping points and human rights at the 61st session of the UN Human Rights Rights Council

We’ve assembled a great team of scientists and human rights experts to brief States on the the imminent challenge of climate tipping points

6 March 2026 in Geneva

A monopolistic private equity company has caused a crisis of typefaces at the CFPB. Here's the story: indebt.substack.com/p/this-week-...?

That and much more in this week's edition of This Week In Debt from @borrowerjustice.bsky.social!