‘We are not safer by sacrificing others’
‘Each hopes to be spared by the figurative firing squad, but predictably, none will be’
Viet Thanh Nguyen at Time
The Trump administration is “weaponizing the fear of the other and promoting a moral panic” around “refugees and immigrants” who are “seeking to replace white people,” says Viet Thanh Nguyen. But the “mechanisms of deportation or the state punishing its enemies are unlikely to stop with Venezuelans or advocates of a Palestinian state,” because “authoritarian power will not be satisfied with one sacrifice.” It will eventually “require more, since that power thrives on the spectacle of punishment.”
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‘The public needs to know that psychedelics aren’t magic pills’
Jules Evans at The New York Times
A “once left-wing psychedelic movement” has become “tightly entwined” with the Trump administration and the tech right, says Jules Evans. The “pro-psychedelic lobby” is “hopeful” that RFK Jr.’s Health and Human Services will “trim the red tape in the FDA’s approval process for psychedelic treatments.” But this may entail “approving them too quickly and without adequate protections.” While mind-altering drugs are “very promising as a mental health treatment,” they also “carry serious risks.”
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‘The world has abandoned us to a fate of constant, deadly bombardment’
Manal Qaed Alwesabi at Al Jazeera
“In the first week of April, the United States carried out air raids across Yemen,” says Manal Qaed Alwesabi, a Yemeni journalist. “I often hear people say that what we are suffering cannot compare to what is happening in Gaza. My fellow Yemenis see pain as a matter of comparison, not a matter of justice — as if the pain must compete against another to be recognized.” Yemenis are being “reduced” to “mere numbers in international agency reports and news broadcasts.”
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‘Budget-conscious travelers are pulling back over concerns about the economy’
Thomas Black at Bloomberg
Southwest “gained a loyal following” as a “low-cost airline,” but it is now “getting walloped — and at the worst possible time as it revamps its business model,” says Thomas Black. Southwest is in the process of “making historic changes to its service model,” breaking tradition by “adopting assigned seating” and “charging for checked bags.” But Southwest “remains a domestic airline and will feel the full brunt of whatever happens to the U.S. economy.”
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