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The 47th president seems to wish he were king—and he is willing to destroy what is precious about this country to get what he wants. Related"3rd term"thoughts Somewhat related Lastly, more indications of a "motley king's court" Excerpt from first link: " T he president of the United States appears to have long ago forgotten that Americans fought the Revolutionary War not merely to secure their independence from the British monarchy but to establish a government of laws, not of men, so that they and future generations of Americans would never again be subject to the whims of a tyrannical king. As Thomas Paine wrote in Common Sense in 1776, “For as in absolute governments the king is law, so in free countries the law ought to be king; and there ought to be no other.” Donald Trump seems also not to understand John Adams’s fundamental observation about the new nation that came into the world that same year. Just last month, an interviewer from Time magazine asked the president in the Oval Office, “Mr. President, you were showing us the new paintings you have behind us. You put all these new portraits. One of them includes John Adams. John Adams said we’re a government ruled by laws, not by men. Do you agree with that?” To which the president replied: “John Adams said that? Where was the painting?” When the interviewer pointed to the portrait, Trump asked: “We’re a government ruled by laws, not by men? Well, I think we’re a government ruled by law, but you know, somebody has to administer the law. So therefore men, certainly, men and women, certainly play a role in it. I wouldn’t agree with it 100 percent. We are a government where men are involved in the process of law, and ideally, you’re going to have honest men like me.” And earlier this month, a television journalist asked Trump the simple question “Don’t you need to uphold the Constitution of the United States as president?” Astonishingly, the president answered, “I don’t know.” The interviewer then asked, “Don’t you agree that every person in the United States is entitled to due process?” The president again replied, “I don’t know.” This is not a man who respects the rule of law, nor one who seeks to understand it. Thus far, Trump’s presidency has been a reign of lawless aggression by a tyrannical wannabe king, a rampage of presidential lawlessness in which Trump has proudly wielded the powers of the office and the federal government to persecute his enemies, while at the same time pardoning, glorifying, and favoring his political allies and friends—among them those who attacked the U.S. Capitol during the insurrection that Trump fomented on January 6, 2021. The president’s utter contempt for the Constitution and laws of the United States has been on spectacular display since Inauguration Day."

This time: innovation in farming Excerpt: " Mariangela Hungria, a microbiologist in Brazil, spent decades looking for bacteria in the soil that could act like fertilizer, boosting farmers' harvests. But she faced a lot of skepticism. "When I started my career, everybody was like, 'You're crazy! You will never succeed. This will never be possible,'" she recalls. Today, her work was rewarded with the World Food Prize , which recognizes advances in agriculture and nutrition. Bestowed by the World Food Prize Foundation since 1987, it comes with a cash award of $500,000. Hungria has spent her entire career as a scientist with the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA), a storied institution that's widely credited with turning Brazil into an agricultural superpower. Fifty years ago, Brazil was a net importer of food. Today, it's the world's biggest exporter of soybeans and several other major crops. Brazil has surpassed the U.S. to become the leader in satisfying China's appetite for soybeans."

How endless time off may hurting, not helping, employees Excerpt: Unlimited PTO policies were all the rage for a while, but now they’re starting to lose their allure. Here, experts weigh in on why companies are shifting away from this once-popular benefit, what alternative solutions look like, and why other options can be more effective. FAILING TO DELIVER  Unlimited paid time off policies are losing popularity because, in practice, they often fail to deliver the flexibility and wellness benefits they promise. While they sound progressive, the reality is that many employees end up taking less time off under these policies. Without a clear benchmark for what’s considered “normal” or acceptable, employees often hesitate to use their time, fearing it might reflect poorly on their work ethic or commitment. This lack of clarity creates anxiety and inadvertently fuels a culture of overwork—exactly what unlimited PTO is meant to prevent. Another challenge is inconsistency. Some employees may feel empowered to take extended time off, while others are quietly discouraged, leading to inequities and resentment. In industries where consistent staffing is critical, the lack of structure makes planning difficult, and in some cases, managers may even override requests, further undermining the policy’s intent. Additionally, unlimited PTO can’t always be applied equally across salaried and hourly workers, potentially triggering claims of unfairness or noncompliance with local labor laws.

WSJ reporting today Excerpt: Moderna’s move to merge technology and human resources into a single function is the latest sign that artificial intelligence is bringing big changes to the workforce.  The biotech company late last year announced the creation of a new role, chief people and digital technology officer, promoting its human resources chief Tracey Franklin to the spot.  Franklin said she is redesigning teams across the company based on what work is best done by people versus what can be automated with technology, including the tech it leverages from a partnership with AI giant OpenAI . Roles are being created, eliminated and reimagined as a result, she said.  Corporate tech leaders are working more closely than ever with their HR counterparts to navigate AI’s impact on the workforce. A number of companies cite rising AI efficiencies for job cuts . Unvalidated, but perhaps related

Flamingos generating underwater vortices to eat Excerpt: "If you’ve ever really looked at how flamingos eat, you know how captivatingly peculiar it is. They bob their inverted heads in the water and do a kind of waddle cha-cha as they inch their way across shallow water, filter-feeding small crustaceans, insects, microscopic algae and other tiny aquatic morsels. Victor Ortega-Jiménez, an integrative biologist at the University of California, Berkeley, remembers being fascinated by this behavior the first time he saw it in 2019, during a trip with his wife and child to the Atlanta zoo. Ever since, he has been wondering what, exactly, was going on beneath the surface. “The birds looked beautiful, but the big question for me was, ‘What’s happening with the hydrodynamic mechanisms involved in flamingos’ filter feeding?’” he said.

An Atlantic opinion Excerpt: " The White House’s grand welcome for the white refugees came as the Trump administration is waging a deportation campaign , aimed at removing millions of immigrants from the United States. Trump has depicted recent waves of immigrants, particularly from Latin America, as an existential threat to the United States that is “poisoning the blood” of the country."

Becoming more morally ambitious to make life more fulfilling Related thoughts Excerpt to first link: " What if we measured success in terms of how much good we do? We’re told from a young age to achieve. Get good grades. Get into a good school. Get a good job. Be ambitious about earning a high salary or a high-status position. But many of us eventually find ourselves asking: What’s the point of all this ambition? The fat salary or the fancy title…are those really meaningful measures of success? There’s another possibility: Instead of measuring our success in terms of fame or fortune, we could measure it in terms of how much good we do for others. And we could get super ambitious about using our lives to do a gargantuan amount of good. That’s the message of Moral Ambition , a new book by historian and author Rutger Bregman . He wants us to stop wasting our talents on meaningless work and start devoting ourselves to solving the world’s biggest problems, like malaria and pandemics and climate change. I recently got the chance to talk to Bregman on The Gray Area , Vox’s philosophically-minded podcast. I invited him on the show because I find his message inspiring — and, to be honest, because I also had some questions about it. I want to dedicate myself to work that feels meaningful, but I’m not sure work that helps the greatest number of people is the only way to do that. Moral optimization — the effort to mathematically quantify moral goodness so that we can then maximize it — is, in my experience, agonizing and ultimately counterproductive ."

Work's an important part of life, but work is just one element within our greater life Excerpt: " If you took away your Slack status, your email signature, or your LinkedIn profile, how would you define yourself? In other words, do you know who you are without your career? Whenever I meet someone new, the details of my job tend to crop up in the first few minutes. And likewise, if I’m stumped for things to ask a new acquaintance, ‘what do you do for work?’ is always a firm first contender. It’s always bothered me that we find it so difficult to separate ourselves from our work. Why do we conflate careers (ones that so many of us spend hours moaning about) with our sense of who we are as human beings? I understand that work is a place we’ll end up spending most of our lives in – a depressing but unavoidably true fact of life. But don’t we feed the capitalist machine enough that we can’t find anything more interesting to say about ourselves? Work-as-identity isn’t a new phenomenon, but it upholds the perception that our worth is defined by our labour. And that’s a dangerous thing, especially when so many of us feel unfulfilled at work, or are struggling to find any at all. The other issue is that work is ultimately a means of earning money (sorry, but we’re not turning up to an office five days a week to sing Kumbaya and braid each other’s hair). In that vein, when we conflate our jobs with our identities, we’re also placing a monetary value on who we are.

Learn and consider 5 performing under stress approaches Excerpt: "Rich Diviney spent 21 years as a Navy SEAL , leading and operating on missions around the globe. In that time, he completed multiple combat deployments and had the honor of serving as the Commanding Officer of a SEAL Command. One of his most pivotal roles was running a specialized Selection and Assessment program for one of the most elite SEAL units. He also spearheaded the SEALs’ “Mind Gym” to train soldiers’ minds to perform better under stress. Today, he teaches optimal performance to thousands of business, athletic, and military leaders. WHAT’S THE BIG IDEA? What makes someone able to thrive in conditions of extreme stress, challenge, and uncertainty? Why do some people falter when the pressure rises, while others step forward with clarity and strength? High performance under pressure isn’t limited to Navy SEALs. It’s not about being fearless or superhuman. It’s about tapping into human capabilities that we all possess—capabilities that can be trained, honed, and applied in any environment."

Breakthrough innovations cover not just what companies offer but how they operate, interact with users, and go to market. Here are eight examples that are transforming industries and economies. Note: Link may require free membership Excerpt: Breakthrough innovations cover not just what companies offer but how they operate, interact with users, and go to market. Here are eight examples that are transforming industries and economies. Innovation is a critical ingredient in any growth recipe. And the biggest growth—both for the innovator and the broader economy—comes from revolutionary innovations. Such breakthroughs don’t only result from new products or services. Some of the most important recent advances have been spurred by new business models, processes, and experiences. We define these four categories of innovation as follows: product or service innovation: an offering that either is new or improves an existing one experience innovation: customer touchpoints and interactions that complement and improve offerings process innovation: a new approach to developing, manufacturing, distributing, or delivering an offering business model innovation: changing the value chain, diversifying profit streams, altering the economic model, or evolving the delivery approach of an offering

If they can, all of us could, ...if we so choose Excerpt: " W ASHINGTON—Every morning Congress is in session, a bipartisan group of lawmakers meets in the House gym at 6:30 a.m. for an hour of cardio and weights. Discussing politics is forbidden. Lawmakers who transgress are forced to do burpees. “That’s the standing rule. Everybody knows that,” said Sen. Markwayne Mullin.  The Oklahoma Republican, a former professional mixed martial arts fighter, has led the group of 15-20 lawmakers through the Crossfit-like workout for a dozen years.  The gathering, where for once groans aren’t directed at one another, is a rarity on Capitol Hill these days.  During the second Trump administration the political distance between Democrats and Republicans has increased, particularly in Congress, where petty squabbles are common and across-the-aisle friendships are rare. Threats to censure lawmakers and yank them off committees had already abounded. One House committee hearing last year descended into chaos after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R., Ga.) asked Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D., Texas) if her fake eyelashes were impeding her ability to read, prompting Crockett to fire back about a “beach blonde, bad-built, butch body.” “In [mixed martial arts], if you get hit in the back of the head, you got a point taken away from the person who did it. In politics, it’s just called Tuesday,” Mullin said at a late April event. The bipartisan workout group in 2019 included, in photo from left, former Rep. Martha McSally (R., Ariz.), Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D., N.J.), former Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D., Mass.), journalist Jacob Soboroff, Rep. Seth Moulton (D., Mass.), then-Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R., Okla.), Rep. Tim Burchett (R., Tenn.), Rep. Bruce Westerman (R., Ark.), former Rep. Steve Watkins (R., Kan.) and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D., Hawaii). Many lawmakers still like to claim the mantle of being able to work across the aisle, but the years long bipartisan relationships that were once the legislative lifeblood of Capitol Hill are increasingly scarce. Lawmakers spend more time fundraising and less time in Washington, and social media rewards the most bombastic viewpoints."

Curiosity is often considered a personality quirk. Neuroscience paints a different picture. Related study Excerpt: "A few years ago, I decided to retrain as a neuroscientist. It was a leap into the unknown — no roadmap, just a desire to grow. I chose to approach this time of change with curiosity, and I started a weekly newsletter to document what I learned. Suddenly, my doubts became fuel for discovery. What I didn’t know at the time was that this systematic curiosity was actively reshaping my brain in ways that would build resilience for navigating future changes. Curiosity is often treated as a personality quirk — something childlike and playful, maybe even optional. But neuroscience paints a different picture. When we’re curious, the brain’s dopaminergic system — the same one that lights up when we anticipate a reward — kicks into gear. Simply put, curiosity makes us feel good about the prospect of discovering something new. It also helps us learn more efficiently, enhancing hippocampal activity and boosting our capacity to form and retain new memories. Studies show that when people are curious about a topic, they not only remember the specific information they were interested in but also retain unrelated material better. Perhaps most importantly, curiosity promotes neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to rewire itself in response to new experiences. This makes it an ideal cognitive state for those inevitable moments of change when we need to break established neural patterns and form new connections. Curiosity in times of change Change, by nature, introduces uncertainty. And the human brain typically responds to uncertainty by activating the amygdala, triggering the same stress responses as physical danger. What curiosity does is transform that uncertainty from a threat into an invitation."