Five Thoughts About Marco Rubio's Munich Security Conference Speech In the hotel where it happened.

Wrote a thing about Marco Rubio's weird Munich speech. danieldrezner.substack.com/p/five-thoug...

Double down, and if that doesn’t work, blame an underling. Keeping it classy, as usual.

Eternal shame and primary the hell out of them.

It’s about time we all started being a bit more Minnesota.

Image of Shax from Star Trek Lower Decks with the words "Sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice"

We all know Clarke's "sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic"

Well we have corollary:

Exclusive: Trump administration orders enhanced vetting for applicants of H-1B visa An internal State Department memo said that anyone involved in "censorship" of free speech should be considered for rejection.

So Trump and his collaborators are now punishing the folks who keep child pornography off social networks? Hmm.
www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...

Another Syrian trial in Koblenz – but different A new trial of five Syrian suspects has opened last week in Koblenz, Germany, on November 19th. It is the first to commence after the fall of Bashar al-Assad. And it is the first ever to charge starva...

Justice Info: A new trial of five Syrian suspects has opened last week in Koblenz, Germany, on November 19th. It is the first to commence after the fall of Bashar al-Assad. And it is the first ever to charge starvation as a war crime. www.justiceinfo.net/en/152757-an...

UN panel hears evidence Israel operating 'de facto policy of torture' Rights groups gave harrowing details about conditions in Israeli detention centres. Israel has not responded but has previously denied allegations of torture.

NYT seems to think this is not news. bbc.com/news/article...

BREAKING: This is huge news, the EU's equivalent of the 🇺🇸Supreme Court's 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges ruling.

🇪🇺Court of Justice just ruled all 🇪🇺countries must recognise same-sex marriages granted in other member states.

This effectively legalises gay marriage across 🇪🇺

To be fair I don’t think he’s doing it for the LOLs - it’s a classic use of irony that uses cognitive dissonance to underscore grotesque hypocrisy. In that sense, it is serious, just as Slaughterhouse Five was serious about the firebombing of Dresden even while raising an occasional smile.

U.S. Lifts Sanctions on Putin-Backed Bosnian Serb Leader The Trump administration's sanctions removal for Bosnian Serb separatist Milorad Dodik precedes a Russia-Led U.N. Security Council meeting.

The Trump administration’s decision to lift #sanctions on a Putin-backed Bosnian Serb separatist leader follows a range of lobbying and advocacy and comes in advance of a Russia-led #UNSecurityCouncil meeting on Bosnia.

@kurtbassuener.bsky.social puts the pieces together:

This is fucking amazing

The propaganda spewing from Trump's departments and agencies blaming Democrats for the government shutdown is blatantly illegal. We have the Hatch Act for a reason. Some thoughts... robertreich.substack.com/p/the-trump-regime-is-wi...

This Is Fascism

Heading into Day 2 of the Nuremberg Forum. Speakers include William Schabas and Leila Sadat.

www.nurembergacademy.org/about-us/new...

Nuremberg Forum day 1 - international concern about an authoritarian revival in the US and Europe is palpable.

Can you think of a single movie in which there is a video from the government denouncing its political opponents playing on a loop in public spaces in which that government was the good guy?

Police make almost 500 arrests at Palestine Action protest in London Officers arrest activists at silent vigil in support of banned organisation, as demos go ahead despite PM’s pleas

America, this is how it’s done.
#antifascism

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Experts now rate the U.S. as a "mixed" or "illiberal" democracy Experts say political violence, Trump's attacks against non-partisan agencies and institutions, and partisan gerrymandering are their top concerns

A new report from Bright Line Watch finds experts now rate the U.S. as a "mixed" or "illiberal" democracy. The rating is dragged down by Trump's attacks on institutions, a weak legislature, political violence, and partisan gerrymandering www.gelliottmorris.com/p/experts-no...

Geert Wilders heeft gewonnen: zijn fascisme is mainstream geworden Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer waarschuwt dat Nederland, door het bagatelliseren van fascistisch geweld en het criminaliseren van antifascisme, steeds verder afglijdt naar een extreemrechtse, repressieve staa...

"A country that bans anti-fascism is a fascist country."
- Ilja Pfeijffer

www.hpdetijd.nl/columns-opin...

4th deadly US strike on a boat in the Caribbean.

As with the others:
-in area US military operates freely
-arrest low risk
-no legal rationale
-violates international law
-no evidence of who US hit

If really traffickers—very much an if—the move is interdiction. Would get evidence and intelligence.

A handful of billionaires now have unprecedented control over banking, the food we eat, our healthcare, and the information we receive. Many are now currying favor with Trump to avoid accountability and maintain their power. This is what oligarchy looks like.

Important to keep remembering and repeating that Kimmel didn't mock Charlie Kirk or celebrate his death in the monologue. He mocked the president's lack of feeling and criticized the regime.

So this is what happens when you try to access the 2024 DOJ-funded study on political violence - they didn't like the facts, so censored them. Meanwhile, the MAGAverse falsely claim that violence in the US comes from the left.

You can use race in deciding legitimate targets for being terrorized on the street by masked thugs, just not in determining who gets to benefit from elite universities. Message is pretty clear; they can use race to harm brown people but not to help them.

August 23, 2025 “It is my Great Honor to report that the United States of America now fully owns and controls 10% of INTEL, a Great American Company that has an even more incredible future,” President Donald Trump wr...

August 23, 2025

The numbers are in. The new maps republicans just passed in Texas reduce Hispanic Texans to one-third of a white person and Black Texans to one-fifth of a white person.

Liberals: Alas, the Time Has Come to Throw John Rawls Under the Bus The greatest liberal philosopher of the twentieth century guided his creed toward neutrality. In the age of Trump, we can no longer afford that.

Great. Liberals must explain their vision of the good life and how to realize it - or condemn themselves to lose. newrepublic.com/article/1992...

"We are going to have some people who finally stand up. And there may be a bunch of them run over by tanks before suddenly it resonates with the American people and people go, that's not acceptable."

Stanley McChrystal discusses that and more with @johnavlon.bsky.social: