Boing Boing Digest, May 10, 2025
Sinking cities, suspension of human rights, and a curious cucumber incident
Happy Saturday! America's biggest cities are slowly being swallowed by the ground, with Houston leading the subsidence race. Meanwhile, Stephen Miller emerges to propose trashing habeas corpus, and California ports report zero ships crossing from China in an escalating trade crisis. Plus, a peculiar story involving a man, a vegetable, and several counts of public indecency.
Why deathbed regrets don't make good life guidance
By Ellsworth Toohey / Sat, 10 May 2025
The dying may be the worst people to tell you how to live.
On his blog, Rikard Hjort writes about what he calls the "Deathbed Fallacy" — our misguided tendency to treat end-of-life regrets as universal life guidance. While palliative nurse Bronnie Ware's famous list of dying patients' regrets (including "I wish I hadn't worked so hard" and "I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself") has become self-help gospel, Hjort argues we should be skeptical of such wisdom.
Stephen Miller emerges from crypt to propose suspending basic human rights by trashing habeas corpus
By Ellsworth Toohey / Sat, 10 May 2025
The Trump administration has decided to go full authoritarian-thirst-trap by considering the suspension of habeas corpus — you know, that pesky little legal right that's only been around since the Magna Carta.
As reported by CNN, Stephen Miller — Trump's personal Lord Voldemort minus the charm — confirmed they're "actively looking at" suspending this fundamental constitutional protection, saying it "depends on whether the courts do the right thing or not."
California port shipping crisis: Zero vessels crossing from China
By Ellsworth Toohey / Sat, 10 May 2025
Remember when Trump swaggered around claiming trade wars were easy to win? Well, grab your binoculars and stare at the Pacific Ocean, where precisely zero ships are currently sailing from China to California's biggest ports.
As reported in CNN, the San Pedro Bay Complex is looking about as busy as a vegetarian steakhouse.
White South Africans get fast-track refugee status while others wait in limbo
By Ellsworth Toohey / Sat, 10 May 2025
Former colonial rulers are now "refugees" in Trump's America. As reported in CBS News, the administration is rolling out the red carpet for white South Africans faster than Elon Musk can tank a stock price.
Remember when refugee processing took longer than Jupiter's orbital period?
Snag a lifetime Microsoft Office license with no subscription fees for just $30
By Boing Boing's Shop / Sat, 10 May 2025
TL;DR: Enjoy new and old Microsoft Office favorites with this Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2019 license for Windows, now only $29.97 through May 18.
Summer is almost here. Are you in need of a little extra motivation when it comes to tackling responsibilities?
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By Boing Boing's Shop / Sat, 10 May 2025
TL;DR: Take control of your emails with this lifetime subscription to Mail Backup X Individual Edition, now only $49.99 (reg. $179).
Got an unruly email inbox? Mail Backup X can help. It's a one-stop shop for backing up, archiving, and managing your emails.
Save time and money with this $20 Sam's Club membership
By Boing Boing's Shop / Fri, 09 May 2025
TL;DR: Score a 1-year Sam's Club membership for just $20 (reg. $50) through March 12.
Ready to start saving on everyday items? If you're looking to stretch your dollar a little further, this membership to Sam's Club may do the trick.
Senator Fetterman sets record for missed votes as staff scrambles to locate him
By Ellsworth Toohey / Fri, 09 May 2025
Somewhere in the hallowed halls of Congress, Senator John Fetterman is… well, nobody's quite sure where he is, actually. As reported by Axios, the Pennsylvania Democrat has turned "playing hooky" into an art form, missing more votes than any other senator this year while his staff frantically searches the Capitol like they're filming a particularly sad episode of "Where's Waldo?"
Newark mayor arrested at ICE facility after refusing to leave
By Ellsworth Toohey / Fri, 09 May 2025
The mayor of New Jersey's largest city walked into a federal immigration facility Thursday and refused to leave until authorities arrested him, causing a showdown between local and federal law enforcement.
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was taken into custody after allegedly ignoring "multiple warnings from federal authorities to vacate the ICE detention center in Newark," according to reporting by Shore News Network.
Golden Gloves to introduce Best Podcast category
By Grant St. Clair / Fri, 09 May 2025
Golden Globe winner Joe Rogan. It doesn't sound right, but it could soon be very real. Beginning with 2026's 83rd Golden Globes awards ceremony will open up a brand-new Best Podcast category. Per Deadline:
Details are few about the criteria for the new category; according to the Globes today, the "top 25 podcasts" will qualify for consideration, with a total of six final nominations for the category.
Save on these bedtime-ready wireless earbuds — now just $26
By Boing Boing's Shop / Fri, 09 May 2025
TL;DR: Get a good night's sleep with the SleepEEZ Mini Noise-Blocking True Wireless Earbuds, now for only $25.99 (reg. $34.99).
Ready to drift off to sleep listening to your favorite content? Normal earbuds may not be comfortable to wear lying down, but the SleepEEZ Mini Noise-Blocking True Wireless Earbuds were designed to be worn at bedtime.
I've stopped eating pre-bagged lettuce in the midst of an "undermined" FDA and an "almost guaranteed" looming leafy greens E. coli outbreak
By Jennifer Sandlin / Fri, 09 May 2025
With all of the Food and Drug Administration's recent "haphazard" firings of employees—including food scientists who test samples for harmful bacteria and more, as well as the FDA's lack of open communication about recent food-borne illness outbreaks and slashing of research and safety testing programs, I've been thinking hard about my food buying and eating habits.
Soviet spacecraft crashing to Earth after 53 years in orbit
By Gail Sherman / Fri, 09 May 2025
A Cold War-era Soviet spacecraft will soon fall to Earth in an uncontrolled re-entry. Kosmos 482 was launched by the Soviet Union in 1972 but failed to escape the Earth's gravity, and the landing probe has remained in low Earth orbit for 53 years.
Right-wing reggae is about as terrible as you'd expect
By Grant St. Clair / Fri, 09 May 2025
Bob Marley didn't die for this. As part of the far right's ongoing efforts to prove that hey, they can make art too, a few short-lived right-wing music careers have taken form, but none are quite so perplexing as Abba Alabanza.
First American Pope is not Trump, despite his own fantasizing
By Grant St. Clair / Fri, 09 May 2025
It's official: we have the first American Pope in Vatican history. Less encouraging are his historic stances on issues like gender and LGBT+ rights, but either way President Trump has cheered on his election, calling Pope Leo XIV's ascension "such an honor" for the country.
Humanoid robot goes haywire, attacks human workers
By Gail Sherman / Fri, 09 May 2025
In footage posted initially to X-Twitter, a Unitree H1 robot is seen flailing its arms wildly and seemingly attacking two workers. The video, purported to be CCTV footage of a training session, shows the robot, billed by Unitree as a "full-size universal humanoid robot," suspended from a crane by a cable before the violent outburst.
Trump abruptly fires Carla Hayden, the first woman and first black Librarian of Congress
By Rob Beschizza / Fri, 09 May 2025
Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden was "abruptly fired" Thursday by President Trump. Hayden was the first woman and the first African American to be librarian of Congress, confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2016.
Hayden, whose 10-year term was set to expire next year, had come under backlash from a conservative advocacy group that had vowed to root out those standing in the way of Trump's agenda.
Trump names Fox News host Jeanine Pirro as DC prosecutor
By Rob Beschizza / Fri, 09 May 2025
Sir, a second tired and emotional Fox News host has hit the establishment. All rise for Jeanine Pirro, named as interim U.S. Attorney for Washington D.C. by president Trump.
After Trump's 2020 loss to Joe Biden, Pirro made false statements about the election that were part of a lawsuit against Fox News by a company that makes voting machines.
Guilty verdicts for men who cut down famous tree
By Rob Beschizza / Fri, 09 May 2025
The two men who felled the famed Sycamore Gap tree in northern England were found guilty today at Newcastle Crown Court. Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, were each convicted of two counts of criminal damage: one for the tree, and one for the section of Hadrian's Wall damaged when it toppled.
Survey finds big cities slowly sinking into ground
By Rob Beschizza / Fri, 09 May 2025
America's largest cities are slowly sinking due to their own weight, drought and other geological pressures, according to a study published in Nature Cities. Houston is "buckling" fastest, according to the study's interpretation of satellite data, with more than 40 percent of its land subsiding faster than 5mm a year.
Jail for man who publicly sodomized himself with cucumber, etc.
By Rob Beschizza / Fri, 09 May 2025
A man seen and filmed in public doing unspeakable things with a cucumber was sentenced this week in DC Superior Court to serve six months in jail. And it wasn't the first pickle that he found in himself; Anthony Hines pleaded guity to five counts of lewd, indecent, or obscene acts and four counts of unlawful entry of private property.
Diddy lawyer scolded by judge after calling prosecutors "a six-pack of white women"
By Rob Beschizza / Fri, 09 May 2025
The federal judge in Sean "Diddy" Combs' trial rebuked one of his lawyers over an "outrageous" comment about the disgraced rap mogul's prosecutors, described as a "six-pack of white women" on a podcast.
A transcript of a robing room meeting on Tuesday contained the conversation between Judge Arun Subramanian and attorney Mark Geragos.
Firing squad in Mikal Mahdi's execution botched it
By Rob Beschizza / Fri, 09 May 2025
Mikal Mahdi was executed by firing squad on April 11 in South Carolina. It was only the second by that method in 15 years there, and it showed: the firing squad botched it, failing to hit his heart and leaving him to "bleed out" for a minute or more in "excruciating conscious pain and suffering."