Word of the Day: Tohubohu – A state of chaos; utter confusion.
Threatening Vulnerable People Is No Way to Mourn Someone Who Was Murdered. Those who had nothing to do with the violence against Charlie Kirk are being menaced—just like always.
Big Tech Data Centers Compound Decades of Environmental Racism in the South
Scholars’ group cites mass civilian killings, starvation, and official incitement as evidence, while Israel and the United States reject the genocide label.
Pentagon press clampdown sparks First Amendment alarm. Journalists and free press advocates warn that new restrictions requiring pre-approval of even unclassified information represent a dangerous assault on democratic oversight.
Robert Reich on FOTUS’ Calamitous Crypto Corruption
Elizabeth Daniel Vasquez lays out what she found about the degree to which every New Yorker is being tracked, the harms that tracking is already inflicting, and the reasons to fear that things might get much worse, here and across the nation.
Modern dogs now occupy roles historically reserved for close human relationships and often receive greater moral concern than people.
RFK Jr., HHS secretary, “is correct that reported autism rates have exploded in the last 30 years — they’ve increased roughly 60-fold — but he is dead wrong about the causes,” the psychiatrist Allen Frances writes in The Times Opinion. “I should know, because I am partly responsible for the explosion in rates.”
FOTUS Has ‘Strong Feelings’ About Autism; the Issue Is Personal
Nanoplastics are not just in seafood; a new study finds small plastic particles penetrate crops
Potential Trouble for Retirees: A Wealth Adviser’s Guide to the OBBB’s Impact on Retirement
History
In October, the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine will reach an extraordinary milestone: 1 trillion webpages preserved. Record a video answering the question: “Why is the Wayback Machine important to you?”
The last look at American poverty? New data shows 41% of Americans are poor or low-income, revealing deep racial and regional disparities ahead of sweeping federal cuts.
Netanyahu: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
American Hindenburg -“the worst air disaster you’ve never heard of”
Jordan Klepper’s The Daily Show interview of John Fugelsang talking about his book Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Person’s Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Flock-Fleecing Frauds. There is a lovely George Harrison reference as well.
10 of the Oldest Cities in the U.S.
Why Romania Excels in International Olympiads
Internet Archive Designated as a Federal Depository Library
The Facebook Consumer Privacy User Profile Litigation Settlement Administrator has sent me $38.36 USD. I’m RICH!
John Masius, St. Elsewhere, Emmy-winning writer, and Touched By An Angel creator, dies at 75
‘Jeopardy!’ Contestant Ben Scripps Dies at 52 After Losing Battle With Cancer
Baseball’s Davey Johnson (1943-2025)
Now I Know: Why The Dot Got Dashed
Jimmy Kimmel
The Death of Free Speech – Legal Eagle
The FCC: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
He is Back!
HCR
Heather Cox Richardson, about the first of her Letters from an American newsletter six years ago: “In that first letter where I warned of rising authoritarianism, I wrote: ‘So what do those of us who love American democracy do? Make noise. Take up oxygen…
“If you are tired from the last six years, you have earned the right to be.
“And yet you are still here, reading, commenting, protesting, articulating a new future for the nation. And I am proud to be among you.
“I write these letters because I love America. I am staunchly committed to the principle of human self-determination for people of all races, genders, abilities, and ethnicities: the idea that we all have the right to work to become whatever we wish. I believe that American democracy has the potential to be the form of government that comes closest to bringing that principle to reality. And I know that achieving that equality depends on a government shaped by fact-based debate rather than by extremist ideology and false narratives.”
MUSIC
Freedom of Speech – Marsh Family parody of “Under the Sea” from Disney’s “The Little Mermaid”
Sonny Curtis, member of the Crickets who wrote the “Mary Tyler Moore Show” theme song, dies at 88; here he was on CBS Sunday Morning in 2022
Love Is All Around – Sonny Curtis; Mary Tyler Moore Show – Seasons 4-7 Intro & Theme
I Fought The Law – Bobby Fuller Four (1966), written by Sonny Curtis; I Fought The Law – the (post-Buddy Holly) Crickets (1959), featuring Curtis
Ouvertüre zum Lustspiel “Ein Morgen, ein Mittag, ein Abend in Wien” by Franz von Suppé
From – Bon Iver
Wuthering Heights score by Alfred Newman, composed for the 1939 film of the same book.
Makin’ Whoopee – Vince Giordano and The Nighthawks, September 9, 2025 – Radio Free Birdland #34
Need A Ride – Kathleen Edwards
Wuthering Heights suite from the 1939 film by Alfred Newman
Elegy by Mark Camphouse
Helter Skelter – The Beatles (Second Version, Take 17) [Anthology 2025]
K-Chuck Radio: Celebrating Earth, Wind & Fire Day
Ivonny Bonita – Karol G
Full Moon by Ludovico Einaudi
Sesame Street: Pentatonix Counts (and Sings) to Five
Flash Gordon – Queen
Coverville 1549: Interview with Jeff Kanan of The Keep Recording and 1550: Cover Stories for Fee Waybill of The Tubes and B.B. King
J. Eric Smith’s Best Albums of 2025 (Third Quarter)
St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion) – John Parr
Trimmer 
The JES Top 200 Albums Of All Time list is an ever-evolving collection of recordings compiled by J. Eric Smith. Smith, who was a fellow Albany Times Union blogger in the day, lives in Arizona via Iowa.
Unmade beds and overdue books: Photographing the