Notices by Alfie Kohn (alfiekohn@sciences.social), page 2

One of the best pieces I've seen about Epstein - how he, like Trump was a depraved con man whom the elite (in academia, business, and politics) not only lacked the courage to denounce but actively cozied up to and whose evil they thereby encouraged: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-anand-giridharadas.html?unlocked_article_code=1.NVA.M7Ba.LRi6Yx-xpe0k&smid=url-share

Fixed it for you, NY Times

The phrase "existential threat" appears only once in this account of how states are passing laws to make polluters contribute to climate crisis mitigation. Specifically, the phrase is used by the American Petroleum Institute to describe how these companies regard the impact of such legislation on them.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/climate/climate-superfund-laws-bills.html

Mainstream media outlets have been pushing this conservative "Kids have it too easy & need to fail more!" line for years, congratulating themselves on their bold, contrarian stance even though it's long been the conventional wisdom: https://www.theatlantic.com/family/2026/02/parenting-children-failure-immunity/685875/.
My take: https://www.alfiekohn.org/blogs/failure/ (to read) or
https://www.alfiekohn.org/podcasts/failure-kz/ (to listen).

This seems telling: Even his ideological soulmates are now embarrassed by Trump:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/world/europe/trump-liability-europe-far-right-populists.html?unlocked_article_code=1.IFA.rhYr.FQUWQ7Gkbguj&smid=url-share

RE: https://turtleisland.social/@Yehuda/115968615629563283

Miller Miller Miller Miller Miller Miller Miller Miller Miller Miller Miller Miller Miller Miller Miller Miller Miller Miller Miller Miller Miller Miller Miller Miller Miller Miller Miller Miller Miller Miller

Please tell me this isn't going to result in an inquiry that looks at the shooting in isolation - an unfortunate anomaly whose responsibility rests solely with the agent(s) who pulled the trigger.

Adam Serwer on what it means in concrete terms that Trump has essentially destroyed the independence of the Dept. of Justice: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/01/trump-justice/685684/

As it bloody well should. But, I mean, where's the "fierce blowback" from these folks in response to setting armed thugs loose to terrorize cities, or to kidnapping a head of state and stealing his country's oil, or to threatening to take over Greenland, or to obliterating large swaths of the federal government, or....

The headline below (on Wirecutter today) reminds me of the time I gave a passionate speech about the dead-end pursuit of grades and money in a prep school auditorium, whereupon a student stood up and said, "You're telling us not to just get in a race for the traditional rewards. But what else is there?"

For anyone you know who's still using Facebook, Insta, Whatsapp, or Threads...

Trumpians who praise ICE (and denigrate its victims) but also support the J6 seditionists' assault on Capitol police officers are not being inconsistent or hypocritical. Here's why: https://www.thebulwark.com/p/renee-good-ashli-babbitt-fascism

"Trump’s belief in his own global omnipotence, and his desire to grab the territory and natural resources of other countries has been held in check until now by his fear of entanglement in foreign wars....[so] the worst thing about the Maduro rendition is that it worked....
He looks at the world through the eyes of a 19th-century imperialist, but with 21st-century weapons":
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/03/putin-russia-us-foreign-policy-venezuela

New Year's Eve rumination: Maybe Santayana had it wrong. Maybe it's those who don't realize that the past *could have been otherwise* who are condemned to repeat it.

A reminder during this holiday season, courtesy of the late Barbara Ehrenreich, about the "major philanthropists of our society."

Lots of research shows that people of all ages - including students - are happier, healthier, and more productive when they have some meaningful say about what it is they're doing. But what does that look like in a classroom? A new episode of Kohn's Zone: "Who Gets to Decide?" - https://www.alfiekohn.org/podcasts/

Almost 3 in 10 of U.S. teens (and an even higher proportion of Black & Hispanic teens) are now interacting with simulated humans -- that is, using chatbots -- on a daily basis: https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2025/12/09/teens-social-media-and-ai-chatbots-2025/

Trump: Do you see yonder cloud that’s almost in shape of a camel?

Any member of his cabinet: By th’ Mass, and ’tis like a camel indeed.

Trump: Methinks it is like a weasel.

Cabinet member: It is backed like a weasel.

Trump: Or like a whale.

Cabinet member: Very like a whale.

Those who lose a contest often experience resentment and self-doubt. But competition also does ugly things to those who win, this study showed: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120229104746.htm. Ultimately everyone loses when we're pitted against one another.

Democrats range from reasonably progressive to remarkably conservative. But if you want to see a real ideological divide, just look at the Republicans in Congress, where the MAGA Christofascists have completely lost patience with the MAGA-adjacent theocratic authoritarians.