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How Mark Wahlberg made a mafia hitman’s son cry behind the scenes of ‘By Any Means’
‘By Any Means’ director Elegance Bratton tells EW how he adapted the incredible true story of a mafia hitman who helped the FBI solve the murder of a civil rights leader. Mark Wahlberg and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II star in the new thriller.
O.J. Simpson caught laughing about murder trial in behind-the-scenes clip from prank show
New docuseries about O.J. Simpson’s prank show ‘Juiced’ shows him laughing about his murder trial, which the crew hadn’t expected at all
Sabotage, leaks and political ties: the story of the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder trial
Maltese businessman cleared of involvement in journalist’s death, but trial revealed challenges faced by those leading search for killers
The trial over Tupac Shakur’s murder ended with a guilty verdict. But did it bring closure?
A Las Vegas jury has convicted Duane “Keffe D” Davis of first-degree murder in the 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur.
Cornelius man abused children inside hidden room at his business, sheriff says
The Washington County Sheriff's Office is looking for more victims related to an investigation into a man accused of sexual abuse, attempted murder, and more.
Sheriff: Hidden room found in Cornelius shop after owner arrested for attempted murder, sex abuse
The owner of a jewelry business in Cornelius has been charged with attempted murder and sex abuse after an assault investigation and standoff last week, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.
Marijuana business owner charged with murder after Oklahoma explosion kills 2
Ryan Bassham, 35, turned himself in over the weekend after being charged with two counts of first-degree murder in last week's blast at Solos Extracts near Tulsa, Oklahoma, authorities said.
Another accused killer released from Virginia mental health facility after insanity plea
The Commonwealth's Attorney's Office agreed to the release of another man accused of murder after another accused killer fled the U.S. on a weekend pass from a Fairfax County mental health facility.
NC father at center of US Senate ad says he was ‘swindled’ by GOP political operatives
Ronald Hayes was cautious when he talked to a reporter this week about the political TV advertisement he appears in, talking about the death of his son Shemar, a college football player who was murdered in Charlotte in March 2024 at age 23.
What does the Lindsay Clancy trial tell us about treating maternal mental health?
Lindsay Clancy is currently on trial for killing her three children.Prosecutors say the murders were intentional, but her defense team says she was suffering from severe postpartum psychosis -- a condition that does not have a distinct diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.That's the handbook used to identify mental health conditions, so patients often have a hard time getting proper care.The case has put a spotlight on maternal mental health and how its treated by the public and healthcare professionals. What does it reveal?WBUR’s Deborah Becker contributed reporting to this episode.It was produced by Megan Lim and Karen Zamora, with audio engineering by Éowyn Fain, Hannah Gluvna and Ted Mebane. Our director is Jonas Adams.It was edited by Justine Kenin and Tinbete Ermyas.Our interim executive producer is Courtney Dorning.Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.
The 30 best detective shows of all time, ranked
Murder, clues, red herrings, and one last question: EW ranks the 30 greatest detective shows of all time.
Man arrested for murder after prominant business owner shot and killed in West Odessa
A man has been charged with murder after a prominant business owner was shot and killed early Sunday in west Odessa.
Professor Murder Rides the Subway is a forgotten slice of dance punk perfection
It’s basically mid-aughts Brooklyn in audio form.
Why it can take time and effort to find the right meds to help mental health
At the Lindsay Clancy murder trial, mental health professionals who treated her testified that she repeatedly sought changes to dozens of medications prescribed for depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions.
New Mexico advocates push for stronger maternal mental health support amid Lindsay Clancy trial
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A high-profile murder trial in Massachusetts is drawing renewed attention to maternal mental health issues and prompting conversations about support systems available to parents in New Mexico.Lindsay Clancy has admitted to killing her three young children, but her defense team argues she is not criminally responsible because she was experiencing postpartum psychosis. […]
Jake Reiner details call from sister Romy after parents’ murders
Jake Reiner recalled the morning his parents, Rob and Michele Reiner, were discovered dead, revealing that he declined a call from sister Romy.
Jake Reiner gives first interview after parents Rob and Michele’s murders, Nick’s arrest
Rob and Michele Reiner’s eldest son, Jake Reiner, spoke about their deaths in his first sit-down interview and declines to answer questions about his brother Nick Reiner’s arrest.
Lindsay Clancy case: Closing arguments begin as experts divided over mental health
Closing arguments begin in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial as the jury prepares to weigh her mental state. Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Bober joins 'Fox & Friends First' to weigh in on the case.
Virginia governor promises change after accused murderer flees U.S. from mental health facility
Virginia Gov. Spanberger is promising changes after an accused killer fled the U.S. while on unsupervised release from a Fairfax County mental health facility.
What the Lindsay Clancy trial reveals about a broken postpartum mental health system
Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial hasn’t just dominated headlines for its tragic story and true crime fascination. For many, it has prompted a groundswell of recognition and outrage around the barriers women face when seeking care, the lack of research on postpartum mental health conditions and little education for providers.
Denver murder, assault convictions reversed due to faulty jury instructions
Colorado’s second-highest court reversed a defendant’s convictions for murder and assault last week after concluding a Denver judge incorrectly omitted key jury instructions that could have affected the verdict and sentencing. Stephen C. Swainson fatally stabbed Israel Casillas in downtown Denver one night in September 2020. He also stabbed Levi Casillas, Israel’s brother, who survived. […]
Former Lincoln sports reporter pleads guilty in mother’s murder
A former Lincoln sports reporter has pleaded guilty in the murder of her mother.
Business owner details lockdown during Saturday’s suspected murder-suicide
A typical night of entertainment at an all-ages country music club in unincorporated Lowell turned into a nightmare as a domestic argument a few storefronts down became deadly Saturday night.
A Celebrity Death and a Murder Trial Shine Light on Postpartum Mental Health
Hayden Panettiere and Lindsay Clancy are drawing heightened attention to maternal mental illnesses.
News4 Sports alumnus Lindsay Czarniak revisits Sean Taylor murder for new series
An episode of the new series “Game Day Murders” revisits the murder of Washington sports legend Sean Taylor almost 20 years ago. Host Lindsay Czarniak, a News4 Sports alumnus, has a preview of the show.
Prosecutors say bullet engraving shows Charlie Kirk was targeted for his politics
Robinson is charged with crimes including aggravated murder and has not yet entered a plea.
Former Mother-in-Law Describes Lindsay Clancy’s Mental Health Struggle in Murder Trial
Ms. Clancy, who is on trial for murder in the deaths of her three children, tried to find treatment for her deteriorating condition, her ex-husband’s mother testified.
Accused Virginia murderer flees US after 48-hour pass from mental health facility
Fox News correspondent David Spunt reports on an accused murderer who fled the United States after being granted a 48-hour pass from a Virginia mental health facility on ‘America Reports.’
Maternal mental health in focus following Lindsay Clancy murder trial
The Lindsay Clancy trial highlights the critical issue of maternal mental health. Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Bober joins to discuss postpartum depression, its hidden dangers and symptoms to watch out for.
Bail revoked for man charged in fatal Hingham Apple store crash
Bradley Rein is facing charges that include second-degree murder in connection with the 2022 crash that killed one and injured nearly two dozen.
Accused murderer leaves U.S. from Virginia mental health facility
An accused murderer who was committed to a Virginia mental health facility left the country on a flight while out on a weekend pass, according to court documents.
Maury Povich details how infamous ‘Jenny Jones Show’ killing ‘changed everything’ for daytime TV
Scott Amedure’s 1995 murder by fellow ‘Jenny Jones Show’ guest Jonathan Schmitz ‘changed everything’ about the landscape of daytime TV, talk show legend Maury Povich says.
Doctors and women who've had it call for more attention on postpartum psychosis
The high-profile murder trial of Lindsay Clancy's has put the condition in the spotlight. Women who have had it call for more research and understanding of a difficult mental illness.
After nearly 30 years, a man is on trial in the fatal shooting of Tupac Shakur. Here’s what to know
The trial of Duane “Keffe D” Davis for the murder of Tupac Shakur begins Monday in Las Vegas.
President Trump Takes Credit for Steep Crime Rate Declines
Violent crime rates, including murder, have dropped precipitously. The trend began before the president’s current term.
Investors sue Selena Gomez for alleged fraud over mental-health start-up
Singer and actor Selena Gomez was sued on Thursday by investors who say the "Only Murders in the Building" star committed fraud by failing to fulfill duties to build and promote her mental health start-up.
Octavia Spencer Talks Giving 'Visibility' to Missing Indigenous Women
The narrator and executive producer of the ID series talks about the "duty" she feels to amplify the stories of missing and murdered native women and the current efforts toward seeking justice.
Scooters are canceled, plus a sports agent and an unsolved murder
The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic’s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox. Good morning! Hide your best player today. Coming up: 🛴 In MLB, scooter angst 🔍 An unsolved murder 🏈 Minny’s new QB I need to express an old-man sentiment, one that’s festered within me for years: I loathe electric scooters. I recoil every time I travel to a city where they are popular, with sidewalks and plant beds awash in discarded lanky little vehicles. Also, as a new-ish dad, I always think about how dangerous they can be. Anyone,...
Jury selection continues on Day 2 of Tupac's murder trial. Why did it take 30 years to get here?
The long-awaited trial over Tupac Shakur's 1996 killing begins on Monday, with prosecutors relying heavily on Duane "Keffe D" Davis's own statements.
Lindsay Clancy murder trial continues with focus on her mental health treatment
Entertainment and trial attorney on legal issues shaping Tupac Shakur murder trial
Nearly 30 years after rapper Tupac Shakur was fatally shot in a drive-by shooting on the Las Vegas Strip, the murder trial of Duane "Keffe D" Davis has begun with jury selection in a Las Vegas courtroom.
Manhattan home health aide stabbed by client with dementia after serving her pancakes
Barbara Salberg, 66, was hit with a slew of charges including attempted murder following the stabbing in her luxury Upper East Side apartment.
Jury selection begins in Tupac's murder case. Why did it take 30 years to get here?
The long-awaited trial over Tupac Shakur's 1996 killing begins on Monday, with prosecutors relying heavily on Duane "Keffe D" Davis's own statements.
Experts Talk Postpartum Psychosis Symptoms and Diagnosis Amid Lindsay Clancy Trial
Whether Lindsay Clancy was suffering from undiagnosed postpartum psychosis when she killed her three children is central to her defense. Her Massachusetts murder trial is ongoing.
Lindsay Clancy murder trial resumes with mental health treatment in focus
Former FBI special agent James Gagliano joins 'Fox & Friends First' to discuss the resumption of the Lindsay Clancy murder trial in Plymouth, Massachusetts, focusing on the defense's insanity plea.
Tupac murder trial witnesses include Suge Knight, Diddy bodyguard
The official witness list for Duane Keith "Keffe D" Davis' looming trial over the 1996 shooting death of hip-hop superstar Tupac Shakur has been released.
‘America’s saddest murder trial’: mental health in focus in Lindsay Clancy case
Jurors hear from host of medical experts as defence says postpartum psychosis caused young mother to kill children
Fringe review: Too-long ‘In the Moonlight’ falls short on murder-mystery entertainment
With no arguments at the trial — just dancing — and a confusing plot, an audience vote feels arbitrary and pointless.
Amanda Knox says new comedy show honors murdered roommate Meredith Kercher, as Kercher’s sister slams it
Amanda Knox has answered critics of her new comedy show. Here’s what the wrongly convicted woman says about ‘Cartwheel.’
Landover murder suspect dies in apparent suicide after deadly business dispute
Prince George’s County police say a deadly Landover shooting stemmed from an ongoing business dispute. The suspect later died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Former Clancy nanny testifies about mother's mental health issues before killings
Months before Lindsay Clancy strangled her three children, she lost significant weight, couldn't sleep and complained of postpregnancy mental health issues, the family’s former nanny testified at her murder trial Wednesday. But the nanny never worried the Massachusetts mother might be a danger to her children or to herself.
Lindsay Clancy murder trial puts postpartum mental health in the spotlight
New Baldur's Gate 3 Player Stats Prove You're All Knife-Happy Bard Murderers
I want everyone involved brought up on charges
Former FBI profiler: What separates serial killers from the rest
Former FBI profiler Candice DeLong spent two decades investigating crime. She explains why some killers stop after one murder while others keep going.
Chino Hills Murder-Kidnapping Tied to Business Dispute, Officials Say
The execution-style killing last week stunned the city of Chino Hills, an upper-middle-class community roughly 35 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.
The new "science golden age" looks suspiciously like a grift
This edition of PN is made possible by paid subscribers. Become one ⬇️ 🚀 Subscribe to PN 🚀 The Trump regime is trying to usher in a “Golden Age in Science” where scientific research is run like a Trump family business, artificial intelligence is all that matters, profit is everything, and expertise is for chumps. Or at least that’s the vision emerging from a new 123-page “Report to the President” from Michael Kratsios, the Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. In a normal administration, you could probably skip over learning about a science policy document — but this is no normal administration, and this is no normal science policy document. Instead, it’s Trump’s attempt to end the actual golden age of science that was kicked off in 1945 with the publication of '“The Endless Frontier” by Vannevar Bush. [ ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/harmeet-dhillon-portland) [ Harmeet Dhillon demonstrates danger of posting through it ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/harmeet-dhillon-portland) Liz Dye · Jul 29 [ Read full story ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/harmeet-dhillon-portland) Bush, at President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s request, laid out a vision of federal support for science that centered on funding universities to do basic research, saying that as long as those institutions were “vigorous and healthy and their scientists are free to pursue the truth wherever it may lead, there will be a flow of new scientific knowledge to those who can apply it to practical problems in Government, in industry, or elsewhere.” Kratsios’s report is supposed to be the successor to Bush’s, and even apes the format, but this isn’t really a document about science policy. It’s one about ending science research as we know it in favor of shoveling cash at big tech companies. While it might be temping to wave this away as an aspirational policy document, Trump has already begun to shift billions in research funds to AI projects and has taken a hatchet to science funding across the board. He’s teed up the shift Kratsios proposes here, and since neither Congress nor the Supreme Court seem inclined to stop him from doing whatever he wants with taxpayer money, it isn’t doomering or hyperbole to say we are staring down the barrel of a world where the only “science” the government intends to support is for-profit tech and defense advancements. Science for dummies Part of how you can tell this isn’t a document about science is that you are immediately faced with an absolute wall of business-speak of the worst sort. Did you know we must “tightly couple our science and technology enterprises to ensure that groundbreaking ideas invented in the United States are rapidly prototyped, tested, manufactured, and scaled domestically”? You do now! That tone isn’t surprising, because Kratsios has no background in science or research. He has a bachelor’s in political science and spent most of his career working for Peter Thiel at Thiel Capital. After a stint in the first Trump administration as Chief Technology Officer, where he also did not do any science, Kratsios was tasked in 2020 with overseeing the Pentagon’s research budget for a brief time, a position that, as the Wall Street Journal put it, “carries a great deal of power in terms of dictating investment allocations.” He spent the Biden years at Scale AI as “head of strategy,” which you will also note is neither a science nor a research job. But Scale AI has contracts with the Department of Defense and, as the Washington Post wrote in 2023, “has been aggressively pitching itself as the company that will help the US military in its existential battle with China.” And now you have the necessary background for our new golden age, which is going to be a golden age of taking money away from scientists and universities and giving it to companies like Scale AI. A note from Aaron: Working with brilliant contributors like Lisa takes resources. If you aren’t already a paid subscriber, please become one to support our work. 👇 Subscribe In a genuinely galling move, Katsios spends a lot of time slamming universities because of “administrative burdens on researchers” and the “well-documented inefficiencies” in academia, the message being that those damn universities waste the time of amazing researchers with paperwork. Except it’s the administration that is attempting to impose inefficient, unnecessary burdens on those researchers with a proposed Office of Management and Budget rule that would require senior political appointees to approve every science grant and ensure it aligns with Trump’s personal priorities. Researchers would also have to seek prior government approval to attend conferences or publicize their research. And political appointees could terminate any grant at any time if they feel like it. [ ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/omb-rule-science-funding) [ The murder of expertise ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/omb-rule-science-funding) Lisa Needham · Jun 11 [ Read full story ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/omb-rule-science-funding) But when it comes to AI, we’re going to “restore permissionless innovation.” The report proposes to give lucky ducky innovators a pile of cash up front for grants lasting five years or longer, saying “awards should be fully-funded in year one, with all resources earmarked upfront, to minimize administrative burdens and reduce pressure for researchers to generate intermediate results to secure continued funding.” Yeah, wouldn’t want to have to make the Very Special Tech Bros show results or get money parceled out year by year like the plebes at universities. The report also proposes that we should have “fast grants” with “simplified applications requiring just a few pages of writing” because that is definitely how science works, just writing a bit off the dome and getting some cash. [ ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-ai-action-plan-altman-llms) [ Tech elites are turning AI into ChatGPTrump ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-ai-action-plan-altman-llms) Paul Waldman · July 29, 2025 [ Read full story ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-ai-action-plan-altman-llms) Oh, and we should have prizes and challenges, where multiple teams compete. The proposed prizes include incentives like “advance procurement commitments,” which means the federal government agrees to buy whatever is being developed. There’s also “regulatory fast-tracking,” making sure all those great AI thingies don’t have to wait too long to be unleashed on a market. These aren’t incentives to do science. These are incentives to develop things with tax dollars that you can then sell to the government for more tax dollars. In the suggestion that might be the most unhinged, the most very opposite of how both government and research work, our new age will include “golden tickets.” That’s where an individual reviewer in an agency — yes, just one person — can “recommend unconventional proposals that may not pass consensus-driven review panels” because somehow this will “surface valuable ideas too divisive for committees and attract higher quality reviewers by empowering them to exercise independent scientific judgment.” Yes, that’s saying that a random person in an agency should be able to shovel money at some idea even if it can’t pass a review panel, and that the opportunity to do so will attract better employees because apparently all the best minds in science are chomping at the bit to be allowed to unilaterally fund AI research based on their personal vibes. But that isn’t at all how actual science works, and actual scientists aren’t unhappy about review panels. They work collaboratively, not siloed in some secret race to create the next AI chatbot. A 2020 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research examined whether peer review panels succeed in helping agencies predict which research ideas will best advance science. Peer review was better at finding “diamond in the rough” applicants than a single government program official. How about that. Trump always wants a taste It’s painfully clear that what Katsios is trying to do here is turn the whole of government science research and funding into the sort of “move fast and break things” paradigm that is the hallmark of big tech. That method works to line the pockets of tech executives, but it isn’t science. There’s a reason the government funds different kinds of research than private tech companies do. What Katsios either fails to understand or deliberately ignores is that the federal government is the main funder of basic research precisely because it can take a long time for it to bear fruit and is not intended to be profitable as such. “Basic” here does not mean rudimentary or simple, but rather research that is designed to advance scientific knowledge instead of achieving a specific outcome or product. Big tech companies don’t widely fund that sort of research, because it doesn’t make them money. Industry dollars account for only about 20 percent of basic research funding, while the government contributes around 60 percent. Big tech companies and startups do, however, rely on and benefit from that basic research. A 2019 study found that 35 percent of all patents obtained by venture-backed startups from 1976 to 2016 cited federally supported research. Basic research funded by the NIH contributed to every single drug the FDA approved from 2010 to 2016. [ ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-saudi-nuclear-deal) [ The Saudi nuclear farce and governance by whim and meme ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-saudi-nuclear-deal) Noah Berlatsky · Jul 27 [ Read full story ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-saudi-nuclear-deal) Unlike inventing the next ChatGPT, actual science is slow and iterative. Government funding of research that, on its face, would not appear to lead to any big new invention is actually what underpins those big new inventions. If the government hadn’t funded research into desert lizard venom, we wouldn’t know about semaglutide, and we wouldn’t have Ozempic. If research scientists hadn’t studied how bees optimize nectar foraging within a colony, we wouldn’t have the algorithm that assigns internet traffic across computer servers. The report assiduously ignores that a symbiotic, profitable relationship between the federal government, universities, and private companies already exists. Each federal research dollar generates about $1.50 to $3.00 in long-term economic benefits. The $36 billion the government awarded in NIH research funding in fiscal year 2025 generated $94 billion in new economic activity. Trump’s proposed new golden age is intended to strip those billions from universities, resulting in the dismantling of departments and the shuttering of labs. But Katsios has a plan for that: Universities should just become trade schools to churn out no-show STEM degrees! “Require universities and community colleges to embed practical technical training and externships into STEM curricula. Let hands-on experience and industry credentials count toward degrees.” It’s quite the feat to, on the one hand, strip schools of funding for scientific research while simultaneously demanding to control what is taught and, oh, also, colleges need to give degrees to employees at big tech companies just for being employees at big tech companies. The new golden age would also exacerbate the brain drain Trump’s policies have already caused. Nature found that in the first quarter of 2025, US scientists submitted 32 percent more job applications abroad than in 2024. A March 2025 poll by Nature of roughly 1,600 scientists found that over 1,200 said they were considering leaving the country. Europe is investing $565 million to make it a “magnet for researchers” and provide funding for scientists who relocate. The new golden age is also about embedding Trump’s xenophobia into the fabric of American science. The report complains of an “over-reliance on foreign students” that “creates a security challenge our institutions are ill-equipped to address” and that a “reliance on foreign talent sidelines American students.” This is, to put it mildly, nonsense. International students pay far higher tuition and often receive no financial aid. Their tuition dollars are what make it possible for American students to get financial aid. In the 2023-2024 school year alone, international students contributed $43.8 billion to the US economy and supported over 378,000 jobs. Those 1.1 million international students accounted for only six percent of the total number of students in higher education that year, but were such an economic engine that for every three international students, one job was created or supported. It’s impossible not to wonder whether part of Trump’s loathing for universities and their leading role in scientific research is that there is no way for him to corrupt the process and make money off it in the same way he can by giving millions and billions to Silicon Valley types who, in turn, give him millions in cash. There’s no way for his children to invest in universities that the government then gives no-bid contracts to, fattening the family’s bottom line, which is pretty much the Trump sons’ current venture capital practice. Trump and Katsios’s view of science is narrow, cramped, and wrong. We’re not in a crisis, we’re not a failed state. We’ve been a science superpower for decades, and the only thing that threatens that is Donald Trump. Tech bros are already living high off the hog in this administration. They don’t need any more of our tax dollars. Hopefully this new golden age never comes to pass. Thanks for reading Public Notice. This post is public so feel free to share it. Share We’ll be back with more tomorrow. If you appreciate today’s PN, please do your part to keep us free by signing up for a paid subscription. 🚀 Subscribe to PN 🚀 Thanks for reading, and for your support.
After Hobbes vs Rousseau: Politics must move beyond human nature
Since the great debate between Hobbes and Rousseau, our political theory has been organised around a single question: is human nature essentially good or essentially corrupt? Graham Harman, the philosopher behind object-oriented ontology, argues that this is simply the wrong question to be asking. The real forces governing our collective fate - climate change, artificial intelligence, geography, and pandemics - are non-human; therefore, questions about human nature are not the central ones. Instead, Harman proposes a politics reorganised around our relationship to non-human objects and environments, in which quasi-government institutions incentivise and deter actions with the aim of extending the survival of the human race. “It is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.” This has become one of the most popular phrases among twenty-first-century intellectuals. Often misattributed to Fredric Jameson, it has been warmly embraced by such influential authors as Slavoj Žižek and the tragically departed Mark Fisher, and has fueled the notion that the major problem with the political Left is that it simply needs to become more speculative and creative. Naturally, this is never a bad idea in any human pursuit. But what if the political distinction between Left, Right, and Center itself results from a failure of imagination? SUGGESTED READING Hobbes vs Rousseau: are we inherently evil? By Robin Douglass This particular division has been with us only since the summer of 1789. During the simmering prelude to the French Revolution, it referred originally to the physical position in the National Assembly of radical figures on one side and loyal monarchists on the other. These positions are linked with two entirely different camps of modern political theory. On the Left we find a series of authors ranging from the moderate (Locke) to the supercharged (Rousseau) to the truly radical (Marx), all of them contending that exploitation of the many by the few justifies revolutionary overthrow of the existing order. On the Right they are countered by the likes of Machiavelli, Hobbes, and Schmitt, a group of thinkers convinced that corrupt human nature can be tamed only by force. In the words of the Nazi supporter Schmitt: “One could test all theories of nature and state and political ideas according to their anthropology and classify these as to whether they consciously or unconsciously presuppose [humans] to be by nature evil or by nature good.” This is the division we continue to face today, even in the daily retail politics of Western democracies.___Our species has regularly proven itself capable of both the noblest gestures and the most scathing cruelties, making it hard to define us as essentially either emancipatory or brutal in our aims.___The most refreshing feature of David Graeber and David Wengrow’s 2021 book The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity was their awareness that the forced choice between Rousseau and Hobbes (as they put it) is no longer sufficient. Our species has regularly proven itself capable of both the noblest gestures and the most scathing cruelties, making it hard to define us as essentially either emancipatory or brutal in our aims. Far from being stationed “beyond good and evil,” we seem to be fully entangled with both. We are not naturally good or evil, Graeber and Wengrow contend, but naturally experimental and imaginative. They rest their case on the archaeological record, which seems to bear witness to numerous episodes of seasonally shifting governments and festivals, which vacillate in the same society (even in the same year) between the egalitarian and the dictatorial. Such praise of political experiment makes a good fit with the generally anarchist position defended by these authors. Yet it is also what I find most disappointing in their position. Although they are right that the forced choice between Hobbes and Rousseau falls short of what our new situation requires, the authors simply replace it with praise for the human being as a political tinkerer and performer. In other words, they give us just another theory of human nature, one that would not have been out of place in the sixteenth or seventeenth century. What other options might we have?___The time is ripe for a retheorization of politics on the basis of something other than human nature… We are not just alienated and limited by objects, but also empowered and unleashed by them___One fresh approach would be to treat politics within a broader framework than human nature, given that the polis does not exist in a vacuum filled exclusively with people. When Bruno Latour went to observe the baboons of Kenya with the San Diego anthropologist Shirley Strum, they jointly concluded that these primates were more socially interdependent than our own species. Each baboon is so reliant on the dynamics of the group that they find themselves locked into constant surveillance of their potentially dangerous peers. The group structure turns out to be inherently volatile. Humans, by contrast, are able to stabilize their societies to a large degree through the mediation of inanimate objects. Although one’s position in society may seem to fluctuate over time, considerable stability is produced through such items as apartment keys, wedding rings, and identification cards, all of them serving to secure us a place distinct from that of our fellows. The Italian philosopher Maurizio Ferraris has written at length about the crucial role of documents in establishing social relations, making him a hero among notaries in his country. Proper names and license plates cement our position amidst other humans, as do symbolic achievements such as graduation from a top university or distinguished wartime service with its various medals and ribbons. None of this is found among baboons, despite their closeness to us on the evolutionary tree: after all, we did share a common ancestor just 25 to 30 million years ago. SUGGESTED VIEWING The goodness paradox With Richard Wrangham The time is ripe for a retheorization of politics on the basis of something other than human nature, whether understood in the manner of the Left or of the Right. We are not just alienated and limited by objects, but also empowered and unleashed by them. But initially, it is true, we face non-human things primarily in the form of constraints. It would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to form a human civilization underwater, deep underground, atop Mount Everest, or in outer space. Human dependence on the non-social background takes on subtler form in discussions of political geography, especially unloved on the more idealistic Left. Consider the luckless position of Poland during World War II, sandwiched between Hitler on one side and Stalin on the other. By contrast, note the good fortune of the United States in not having a military peer positioned on any land border. Anglo-American geopolitics, since the writings of the American naval commander Alfred Thayer Mahan and the British geographer Sir Halford Mackinder, has been wedded to the notion that one or more liberal offshore naval powers should prevent any authoritarian “heartland” regime from gaining effective control of Eurasia. That remains the case whether the opponent is the impatient Napoleon, the swashbuckling German Kaiser, the villainous Hitler, the murderous Stalin, or the industrial juggernaut Chinese. In their current Foreign Affairs article “Heartland vs. Rimland,” Michael Beckley and Hal Brands analyze the current and coming state of the world on the basis of these same rather durable principles. In recent years a similar outlook has been embraced, in inverted form, by the Putin-loving Russian philosopher Aleksandr Dugin, an icon of the Rightist intellectual underworld. For Dugin, the Anglo-Saxons are an evil force bent on destroying the spiritually superior people of the land: much like Athens in its failed war with Sparta, or Carthage in its eventual collapse against Rome. But the shared notion on both sides is that any strategy that fails to take geography into account is likely to end up as a defeated form of excessive optimism.___When dealing with environmental degradation, then, we are doing business with forces that promise dire effects on our species as a whole.___More striking for us today than geography is the non-human object called climate, which threatens rimland and heartland equally. Even if we contend that humans are one hundred percent responsible for triggering the climate crisis, it remains non-human in the sense of being an independent force beyond our effective control. In a major work published just before his death in 2002, The Structure of Evolutionary Theory, the American paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould noted the tendency of evolutionary theorists to focus too closely on the fate of individuals in view of their successful or failed adaptation to circumstances. With climate change, however, we confront a force that goes well beyond the scope of any individual life. Whereas Richard Dawkins extended evolutionary questions downward from individuals to the sub-individual gene, Gould pushed it upward, speaking of entire species or clades as impacted by environmental change. The asteroid that struck the Yucatán 66 million years ago is only the most famous example of this sort. In the wake of that catastrophe, large animals needing abundant supplies of food were at a fatal disadvantage by contrast with the smaller birds and mammals of the planet. When dealing with environmental degradation, then, we are doing business with forces that promise dire effects on our species as a whole. The effect is to shift our attention away from individual beings towards the survival of the group.In the United States in particular, the COVID-19 pandemic sparked considerable backlash among those who asserted a nearly absolute degree of individual freedom. In California I encountered those who demanded that their businesses be allowed to reopen, that it was enough to cover their mouths but not their noses, or that they should have the right to enter any public area despite refusing vaccination. Yet public health is probably the clearest argument against libertarianism, which often merely asserts the autonomy of individuals against any claims of the commons. In normal times the individual is worth defending; under conditions that threaten the survival of part or all of our species, compulsion may be our only resort, as with perfectly reasonable blackouts and rations in wartime. To rebuild human society under the constraints of climate change will be one of the great challenges of the century to come, as will our improvised grappling with artificial intelligence. Such phenomena pose existential risks for humanity, and leave far less room for tolerance of individual brattiness. Cases are mounting of devastating wildfires caused by arson. Recently it was reported that there is even a website where one can bet on the location of coming wildfires, raising the specter of deliberate blazes set to collect on wagers. The death penalty has steadily lost support in a world where many stress the infinite value of human life. But if we focus instead on entire ecosystems, those who purposely burn the forests may begin to look worse than serial murderers.___The politics of the future may be splintered by disagreement over such topics as how to manage our environing background and how to permit or restrict the entry of new objects into the political sphere.___So far I have spoken of force, authority, and punishment: measures sure to have greater appeal to those who identify with what we know as the Right. But other implications of the post-anthropocentric world are likely to have different backers. If non-human objects are seen as structuring political space, it stands to reason that they can no longer be introduced solely by the pace of technical breakthrough. Fields ranging from cybernetics to energy will demand increased politicization once they are reconceived not just as products of individual human investment, but as renovations of collective political geography. This need not involve world government, with its inherent risk of tyranny, but may involve quasi-governmental enforcers of prestige along the lines of a less corrupt FIFA or International Olympic Committee, punishing deviant states not with violence but with less tangible incentives.Politics will never lose its historic links with conflict and faction. But rather than factions aligned by differing theories of human nature, the politics of the future may be splintered by disagreement over such topics as how to manage our environing background and how to permit or restrict the entry of new objects into the political sphere. This will prove just as incommensurable with the modern Left/Right spectrum as a globe is with a two-dimensional map.
Lindsay Clancy murder trial raises mental health questions for postpartum women
Dr. Monique Yohanan discusses postpartum psychosis and its distinction from depression amid the emotional Lindsay Clancy trial.
Patrick Clancy testifies about ex-wife’s attempt to seek mental healthcare after 911 call played in her murder trial
Patrick Clancy testified in the murder trial of his former wife, Lindsay, on Wednesday.
Man who killed family in murder-suicide was a former American Heart Association employee
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Suffolk judge orders a third mental health evaluation for Nesconset teen charged with killing ex-girlfriend Emily Finn
The New York State Office of Mental Health found Austin Lynch, 18, was not competent to stand trial after he was charged with the second-degree murder in the killing of Emily Finn, who had visited him at his home to return his belongings following a breakup.
From 'Gentleman' on the West Bank to 'Chicago' in Slidell, death comes to New Orleans theaters
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Catherine Ryan Howard on Murder Houses, Strange Science, and Finding Inspiration for Her New Novel
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Lindsay Clancy's mental health was getting 'worse and worse' before the murders, ex-husband says
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Postpartum psychosis or murder? Trial of mother who killed her kids spotlights mental health
Lindsay Clancy’s mental wellbeing will be a central question during her trial for strangling her three children to death
How An Ancient Murder Was Solved Using Flies: The World's First Case Of Forensic Entomology In 13th Century China
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These are the best things to do in Brevard this weekend, July 24-30
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British prosecutors charge a man with murder in death of former politician Ann Widdecombe
Joshua Kerry was charged after more than a week in custody on suspicion of murder and acts of terror.
Accused Puna Killer Faces Mental Health Evaluation. Here’s What That Means
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A 1989 Eugene murder conviction relied on junk science. Now the man wrongfully convicted has been released.
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Suspect arrested for murder in deadly beating outside Las Vegas business
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UK's Reform Calls for 'Full Security' for Lawmakers After Politician's Murder
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How tiny pollen grains helped solve a brutal murder: The fascinating science behind nature's invisible crime scene evidence
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U.K. Police Open Murder Investigation Into Death of Politician Ann Widdecombe
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She blamed flu shots for her twins’ deaths. Now she’s charged with murder.
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WATCH LIVE: Tyler Robinson's preliminary hearing, day 2
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Star Trek Murder Mystery Drove The Science Advisor Crazy
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Melissa McCarthy and Clive Owen to play JonBenét Ramsey's parents in new Netflix series
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Netflix and Superheroes Are Having a Rough Stretch on Streaming....
(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) I have a quick prediction before we start today’s article: You might see this data in future news articles. Not my specific charts or analysis, but the core trend I’ve been monitoring—Netflix is having a lackluster Q2—will become inescapable. Often, folks want to know “What does the data say?” Well, that’s what it says. I haven’t seen this analysis hit the trades really yet, but I have a feeling some other outlets are going to start making this case soon. Remember, you read it here first. You probably have read about the problems facing superhero films at the box office this weekend. Well, this week, I explore whether superheroes are dying on TV as well! And the data says: definitely maybe! We have a lot to cover in today’s Streaming Ratings Report, which covers the two weeks of 18-May and 25-May. Today, I’m just looking at TV, like Netflix’s disappointing Q2, superhero shows underwhelming, a few TV shows dropping off the charts, The Pitt finally ending its epic run on the viewership charts (and whether “view counts” change its status as one of the biggest shows of all time), all the flops, bombs and misses, and a whole lot more. Tomorrow, I’ve got a great rundown of the film side of things. Let’s dive right in! (Reminder: The streaming ratings report focuses on the U.S. market and compiles data from Nielsen’s weekly top ten viewership ranks, Luminate’s Top Ten Data, Showlabs, TV Time trend data, Samba TV household viewership, company datecdotes, Netflix hours viewed data, Google Trends, and IMDb to determine the most popular content. While most data points are current, Nielsen’s data covers the weeks of May 18th to May 31st, 2026. You can find a link to my terminology here.) Subscribe Television - Netflix’s Q2 Slump Continues Having analyzed streaming ratings for going on half a decade, I have learned to trust my gut, but I’m always relieved when I can find actual data to back it up. For example, after a string of very popular shows like Stranger Things, Bridgerton, The Lincoln Lawyer and The Night Agent came out, week after week, in January and February, my gut wondered if Netflix had enough new and returning TV shows to sustain them throughout the year. Since then, Netflix’s post-March slate of shows has not impressed me. This week seemed to feature a potential new hit, but then, like a classic Duffer Bros. TV show, there was a twist. I speak of The Boroughs, Netflix’s latest (and last) Duffer Bros. produced show. The pitch is “Stranger Things with older actors”. And it topped the Nielsen charts: With just two weeks of viewership, The Boroughs would have been a top 25 debut show last year: But here’s the twist: Netflix has already cancelled The Boroughs! What happened? Likely a few things. First, the show didn’t do as well globally as it did in the US. As What’s on Netflix showed, it lagged behind several other shows that got cancelled. Second, its completion rate was likely low; after an initial burst of interest, it quickly dropped off on the Samba TV and Luminate charts. Third, the Duffer Bros. left Netflix for Paramount, and that may have factored into Netflix’s decision here. (Though I tend to believe that if a show is doing well, Netflix would have kept greenlighting seasons.) Still, just because I can explain why Netflix may have cancelled this show doesn’t mean I’m justifying it. In particular, as I’ve noted before, Netflix is losing a lot of their bigger shows as they reach their natural ends, and they need to replace those shows. This show had the hallmarks of a big new genre show, and it’s their biggest hit of the last few months (in the US at least), but now it’s done. Netflix’s other show this week—The Four Seasons, the second season of the “hit” show from last year—definitely disappointed. Its sophomore season had about half the viewership of the first, only 12.7 million hours. It also only had a two week run on Samba TV, and its numbers were all down on Luminate too. In other words, even with two successes, the Q2 slump for Netflix looks real: I could add to the list of disappointments: Both Lord of the Files and Man on Fire had short runs on the Nielsen charts. Running Point’s sophomore season also opened to about half its viewership, similar to The Four Seasons. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder’s second season—see below—didn’t even make any of the three viewership charts I track, unlike the first season. Netflix is absolutely having a dismal second three months of 2026. If this Nielsen data is any indication, and I think it is, I think this will show up in Netflix’s engagement report, and maybe even their financial outcomes. And the rest of June doesn’t look much better. We have two hit shows coming back—Sweet Magnolias, one of their quietest big shows, and Avatar: The Last Airbender, a big hit for them in 2024—but the other big swings are limited series crime thrillers i.e. no future season potential. Like I said above, sometimes when I uncover a juicy nugget like this, other outlets end up writing very similar articles mimicking the data without credit. We’ll see if that happens this time! Share Television - The State of Superhero Shows on Streaming When I first heard the pitch for Spider-Noir—a Sony TV show on Prime Video that binge-released eight episodes first on MGM+ then on Prime Video two days later—I had my doubts. It’s a live-action Spider-Man show set in the 1930s, starring Nicholas Cage, based on a cameo of a character in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. No, seriously, that’s the pitch. That could either go terrifically well or horribly wrong. Great because, Spider-Man. He’s the biggest superhero we have. I’ve seen tracking numbers that put the new _Spider-Man: Brand New Da_y as the blockbuster of the year and initial pre-sales back that up. And yet this Spider-Noir pitch feels very esoteric. (Also, the eight-episode binge release feels very “Amazon copying Netflix” again.) So what’s the data say? And what does this say about the future of superhero shows?
Parents charged with murder after 7-year-old son died of heart disease at 255 pounds
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Mangione faces hearing ahead of trial over US health insurance CEO's killing
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Jackson business owner charged with murder after 21-year-old man shot
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Family mourns man found dead in south Bexar County business as BCSO searches for shooter
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Former Disney CEO Bob Iger defends ABC pulling Jimmy Kimmel over Charlie Kirk remark
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Whistleblower investigating Ecuadorian president’s family business was murdered, activists say
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