“That Republican Party, frankly, no longer exists.”

The Atlantic: Hypocrisy, Spinelessness, and the Triumph of Donald Trump. “He said Republican politicians would be easy to break. He was right.” By Mark Leibovich.

“Biden’s defeat of Trump in 2020 had seemed certain to weaken Trump’s grip on the Republican Party, if not end his political career. No relevant precedent existed for any one-term president to become his party’s default front-runner in the next election. Especially not an extremely unpopular one-term president who lost by 7 million votes, refused to concede, incited a lethal insurrection in an attempt to overturn the result, was impeached for a second time, defied long-honored tradition by skipping the swearing-in of his successor, left behind a traumatized nation (with 25,000 National Guard troops defending the capital against his own supporters), became the first former president to be indicted … and the rest of the whole loser litany.

Yet the speed with which Trump has settled back into easy dominance of his party has been both remarkable and entirely foreseeable—foreseen, in fact, by Trump himself. Because if there’s been one recurring lesson of the Trump-era GOP, it’s this: Never underestimate the durability of a demagogue with a captive base, a desperate will to keep going, and—perhaps most of all—a feeble and terrified opposition of spineless ciphers (“weak like a baby”).”

Link via MetaFilter.

“Come to think of it, they’d make a really good superhero team.”

Veritasium: The Real Reason Robots Shouldn’t Look Like Humans | Compilation. (YouTube, 1 hour 27 minutes)

Includes the following videos that were released separately:

  • This Unstoppable Robot Could Save Your Life
  • World’s Highest Jumping Robot
  • The Fastest Maze-Solving Competition on Earth
  • Why Machines That Bend Are Better
  • Why Robots That Bend Are Better

Cosmic Kiss

Zeit Podcast: Alles gesagt: Matthias Maurer, wie lebt es sich im All? “Er hielt Astronauten für Superhelden, dann flog er selbst zur ISS. Im Podcast spricht er über die Angst vor dem ersten Weltraumspaziergang und Essenslieferungen ins All.” Podcast vom 18. Juli 2024, 9 Stunden und 46 Minuten. Und keine einzige Sekunde langweilig!

Das war eine der besten, wenn nicht die beste Folge dieses Podcasts. Häufig erwähnt wurde die ähnlich interessante Folge, nämlich Thomas Zurbuchen, wann findet die Nasa Leben im Weltall? vom 2. August 2022 (“nur” 5 Stunden 2 Minuten lang).

Cosmic Kiss war übrigens der Name seiner Mission zur ISS vom November 2021 bis zum Mai 2022.