Swagflation

Swagflation Entering this year’s Super El Niño, it’s worth remembering we live on a water planet, and “the ocean is the atmosphere, but upside down and wet.” / Our Blue Frontier Ninety percent of energy building in the United States in the first half of 2026 was either solar, storage, or wind power. / Canary Media This is the third year in a row that Illinois has experienced a triple-digit tornado season. / Grist National Guard members tasked with patrolling Washington, DC, complain anonymously about feeling exploited for a political stunt. / NPR Comedians who specialize in Trump jokes say they’re skeptical about the function of political comedy “in a world that’s arguably beyond parody.” / The Atlantic [$] See also: Everybody should be following the Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo case “like it’s the OJ Simpson trial and ICE is the runaway Bronco.” / LA Taco Despite heat waves, Europe “captured” $2 trillion in leisure travel spending last year, taking one-third of the global market. / eTN Airline passengers say noise made by others is their number-one complaint. / The Points Guy If you enjoy these headlines, please join us as a Sustaining Member to support what we do and unlock access to paywalled links. Japan’s revered department stores often date back to dry-goods shops from the premodern Edo period. / The MIT Press Reader A report on shopping expensive tees from vintage T-shirt markets. / The Wall Street Journal [$] A report on shopping for (lately very good) “super clone” luxury watches. / WIRED If you hear commentators say the word “swaggy” on the Tennis Channel during this year’s US Open, they’re probably talking about a Black person. / Bounces A psychiatrist advises parents to read between the therapy buzzwords that teenagers are using to diagnose themselves. / The New York Times [$] Unrelated: How to turn any topic into peak LinkedIn cringe. / CringeBot 3000 A psychoanalyst interviews podcaster Bella Freud, Sigmund Freud’s great-granddaughter, about what it’s like to interview people on a couch. “When lying down, your thinking comes from where your chest and heart are, not your head.” / Cultured