Not a dime of taxpayer money or govt contracts should go to Palantir.

Sky Defense A New Way to Save Lives in Ukraine

Sky Defense
open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p...

Kim Lane Scheppele on Hungary Democracy wins big

Kim Lane Scheppele on Hungary open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug... A very informative discussion with real insights from an Hungarian-speaking expert.

The term “Department of War” should only be used with scare quotes and considerable derision.

BREAKING: The U.S. bishops’ Committee on Doctrine just issued a formal statement defending Pope Leo XIV's teaching authority on just war doctrine — less than twelve hours after JD Vance told a Turning Point USA crowd the pope should “be careful” talking theology.

This is a serious escalation.

Hegseth Borrows Violent Prayer from ‘Pulp Fiction’ to Bless Iran War at April Pentagon Worship Service For the second month in a row, Pete Hegseth, who likes to call himself “secretary of war,” read a violent prayer — that echoes a scene in the Quentin Tarantino film Pulp Fiction — during a worship ser...

what’s funny about this is that tarantino wrote this “ezekiel 25:17“ for the film. it isn‘t actually in the bible. publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/hegseth-bo...

On April 15, at the direction of #SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations. Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations. Three male narco-terrorists were killed during this action. No U.S. military forces were harmed. @DeptofWar #OpSouthernSpear

Despite the administration’s rhetoric and bogus legal theories, the supposed armed conflict with “narco-terrorists” appears to be entirely make believe.

Murder is the general term for premeditated killing outside of armed conflict.

Here’s the thing—especially on April 15: cutting the IRS isn't some abstract budget trim. It's a tax cut delivered through weaker enforcement. And it mostly goes to people with the most scope to hide income.

Midweek Update #6: The Blockade: Fact And Fiction There Can Only Be One; Do Not Pretend This Has Been “Precise” Or “Surgical”

Midweek Update #6: The Blockade: Fact And Fiction open.substack.com/pub/phillips... Phillips O'Brien on this and Iranian casualties compared to Ukraine war.

A very strong and clear statement from the Economic History Review on the use of AI in original articles and literature reviews.

And good to see they have at last Xited. #Skystorians

People in the Progressive era kept complaining about "the high cost of living" even though wages kept pace with inflation, and their anxiety helped fuel the progressive movement. I had an article on this in the JAH about a million (okay, 25) years ago; we lack data, but I used popular texts. 🗃️

Illiberalism Is Not Inevitable If Viktor Orbán can lose, then his Russian and American admirers can lose too.

How did Magyar win? A long running grassroots campaign in rural and small town Hungary; a refusal to be distracted by government propaganda; a focus on economic issues and corruption; a central promise to bring back democracy and the rule of law

There are several reasons why #incomeinequality in #US has skyrocketed in last few decades. And this is one of them..

Btw, this guy is a Berkeley professor & ex Secretary of Labor - he knows his stuff!

#EconSky #PoliSky #uspoli

April 13, 2026 On April 12, the day of Hungary’s parliamentary elections, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) posted on social media that it was closely watching the election and stood firmly behind ...

April 13, 2026 open.substack.com/pub/heatherc... From Orban to FDR by Heather Cox Richardson.

Thorough and saddening from Quinta Jurecic.

Always read @qjurecic.bsky.social !!!!

Exactly: he lost his rural support base decisively. That had been the key to his successes previously.

Orban was neither the earliest to take office nor the longest to govern of the new breed of democratically elected autocrats, but ruling as he did in the heart of Europe, he always seemed to pose a greater threat to liberal democracy. A good day.

Mathias Corvinus Collegium -which Orban used to fund Christian Right across Europe - has endowment worth *1% of Hungary’s GDP*

This money has gone to Matt Goodwin, Frank Furedi, a Roger Scruton foundation run by Michael Gove + James Orr

Magyar needs 2/3rd of seats to unpick this. Be huge if he can

Hungarians deserve every congratulations for giving Peter Magyar a bigger margin than Orban has ever gotten in all of his rigged elections - and this within the system that Orban rigged. Magyar now has a constitutional majority to undo Orban's constitutional prison and govern as a democratic leader.

Hungarians showing how to win big in an unfair election: organize AND protest AND vote AND demand profound change.

went to check out the techno rave outside Parliament and I don't think I have the data allowance to share a video from it but let me tell you: there sure is a techno rave outside Parliament right now, celebrating Orban getting ousted

💥🇭🇺With 95% of votes counted, Hungary’s map shows the opposition Tisza party crushing Fidesz 94–12 in constituencies. Péter Magyar has secured a 2/3 majority, asked President Tamás Sulyok and other Orbán loyalists to resign immediately, and announced his first visit to Warsaw.

Weekend Update #180: The Ukrainians Stop Pretending Costs And Balances In Russian Oil; The Russian Spring Offensive After 3 Weeks

Weekend Update #180: The Ukrainians Stop Pretending open.substack.com/pub/phillips... Vital update from Phillips O'Brien.

One step further: it should be unthinkable that we would register people for the draft without first making sure that they are registered to vote. And indeed: it makes no sense generally to hold elections without making every effort to make it as easy as possible to vote! That’s what democracies do.

Surprise inspection finds ICE stuffing migrants 'like sardines' into a facility with no bed, showers Three lawmakers visited a Mesa ICE facility unannounced and found overcrowding, with 250 detainees packed into rooms "like sardines"

“I’ve never experienced anything like this in my entire life,” Rep Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) said, fighting back tears. The Tucson Democrat described the way people were laying down inside as “like sardines.” “It is frightening in there,” Grijalva said. “It is disgusting.”

Delusions of Grandeur, Hungary Edition Trump really doesn't understand America's role in the world

Delusions of Grandeur, Hungary Edition open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug... Krugman speaks.

Thinking Live with Phillips O'Brien on War in Iran and Ukraine A recording from Phillips P. OBrien and Timothy Snyder's live video

Thinking Live with Phillips O'Brien on War in Iran and Ukraine open.substack.com/pub/phillips... Excellent discussion with Timothy Snyder.

So there's the 'whole civilization will die tonight' angle of this insanity, but I was also struck by the WHO KNOWS? coming from the guy with access to the largest intelligence gathering apparatus in history and with access to huge nuclear arsenal.

Like, you, dude. You are supposed to know.

I realize one is not supposed to say this in politics, but it is just clearly the case that 77,302,580 voters have blood on their hands for this, bear real, moral culpability for deciding that it was a good idea to put idiot Fox News Grandpa back in power for [reasons].