The Trump admin, with help from far right Jewish activists, is hoping to target campus protesters they claim are pro Hamas. Another aspect of the multi pronged Trump Musk campaign to weaken, if not destroy, institutions of higher ed. theintercept.com/2025/02/15/c...
Adam Tooze, interesting as always: I would only add that FEAR is the principle of governments that resort to "terror," as Robespierre explained in his famous speech; and FEAR seems a crucial emotion elicited by bullying.
Chartbook 350: Bullying as a mode of power open.substack.com/pub/adamtooz...
NYC Union Square
The Situation: What’s Going on at the FBI?
Perhaps a hopeful sign:
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...
David Bell on the collective amnesia that makes younger generations behave as if Hiroshima had never happened; and as if nuclear war isn't still a standing threat.
Speak, Memory
open.substack.com/pub/davidabe...
Why is Biden risking nuclear war in Ukraine?
open.substack.com/pub/casssuns...
Cass Sunstein explains some of the built in limits on attaining “government efficiency”
Ressentiment as a democratic vice:
A short piece that perfectly sums up the parlous state of our aspirationally liberal democracy. Hard times ahead.
"The fact that the ICC has also indicted Putin, Hamas and numerous African leaders will be brushed aside as the court and its European backers are tarred as Jew-haters." Excellent column by my colleague @gideonrachman.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/896d...
This how the new authoritarians consolidate power, sanctioning and delegitimizing independent media outlets. We should expect similar things under Trump in the years to come. www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
Astra Taylor gets our Age of Insecurity, which is only getting more insecure.
Let's be clear: the idea that America's military lost wars because it was restrained by spineless civilians is a classic "stabbed in the back" ultra-nationalist (& fascist) trope and it's dangerous bullshit. Where US civilians were to blame was in starting the wars in the first place.
Trump won a clear and convincing victory. But he and his allies are trying to pump it up into a "landslide," which it was not. With 49.997% of the vote, he fell short of a majority and his 1.6-point margin of victory is the third smallest since the 19th century. www.nytimes.com/2024/11/22/u...
