If Trump intends to attempt a coup, here are five ways he could do it Despite the debacle in Iran, a president at war has several pressure points at his disposal to postpone, restrict and ultimately cancel democracy, writes the historian

The five ways Trump could attempt a coup, by fascism expert Timothy Snyder www.thenerve.news/p/donald-tru...

Incoming Hungarian PM Péter Magyar went on Orbán's state TV today for the first time in 18 months:

"This factory of lies will end once the Tisza govt is formed... What has been going on here since 2010, which even Goebbels or the North Korean dictator would have been envious of, cannot continue."

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

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

Illiberalism is not Inevitable

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Thank you Hungary.

Breaking the Consensus Trance Why we need to recognize we're in a collective march to destruction

Our society is marching in a consensus trance toward a cliff. We need to wake up before it’s too late.

Read my new piece: Breaking the Consensus Trance

jeremylent.substack.com/p/breaking-t...

Nandita Bajaj - The Perils of Population Denialism
overshoot.footprintnetwork.org/nandita-baja...

A new economic superpower could spark a global retreat from fossil fuels | Mark Hertsgaard and Kyle Pope Eighty-five countries have sought a roadmap to phasing out fossil fuels. A conference this month offers hope they could unite

Eighty-five countries have sought a roadmap to phasing out fossil fuels. A conference this month offers hope they could unite www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Why are more children in Japan staying away from school? More than 25% of elementary and junior high students who took part in a survey said bullying was the initial cause for wanting to stop attending school.

In Miyagi Prefecture, the trend of children refusing to attend school has become visible in elementary and junior high schools as children often experience problems that parents and teachers can fail to notice.

Donald Trump’s threat to bomb Iran ‘back to the Stone Ages’ resonates profoundly in Japan Long history of bloody US bombing campaigns began over Japanese cities during second World War

Following Donald Trump's threat to bomb Iran back to the Stone Ages, I explain that the long history of bloody US bombing campaigns began over Japanese cities during second World War: www.irishtimes.com/world/asia-p...

Justin and I wrote about Sanae Takaichi's relationship with the media, and her legions of loyal online shock troops. www.fccj.or.jp/number-1-shi...

Japan's War on Two-Wheels: There Are Now 113 New Ways To Break The Law on A Bicycle. Not an April Fools Joke Starting today, April 1st 2026, there are over 100 new traffic violations that the police can use to ruin your day in this little island country. Japanese police once waged a war on dancing and now...

🚨There are now 113 new ways to break the law on your bicycle in Japan! 🚲🚵‍♂️👮🏼‍♂️👮🏻‍♀️🚔

This is the April Fools gift that the Japanese police want you to take seriously. And if you don't, the fines are rather hefty.
open.substack.com/pub/tokyopal...

Trump is threatening further and greater war crimes in Iran: "completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants... and possibly all desalinization plants!".
This directly contravenes the laws of war.
One day he and his enablers must face justice.
ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/customary...

In an Istanbul market, I found an old German phrase book – and a reminder of how not to speak to migrants | Carolin Würfel Turkish immigrants to Germany in the 60s were seen as temporary labour, not people. Today’s government in Berlin is at risk of repeating the mistake, says Carolin Würfel, a writer who lives in Berlin ...

In an Istanbul market, I found an old German phrase book – and a reminder of how not to speak to migrants www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

‘In 20 years most of the world could be racist dictatorships’: Ibram X Kendi on book bans and far-right fear-mongering How have the rich and powerful convinced so many voters that the reason they are struggling is the poor and powerless? The American historian talks about the weaponising of divisiveness

The other day, The Guardian published a major profile on my work and new book, Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age. I sat for a long interview. Jared Soares took my portraits at the iconic Sankofa Video and Books Cafe in D.C.

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

We’re letting big corporations gamble with our lives. Act now, or the food could run out | George Monbiot The fragility of the global food system fills me with dread – and the war with Iran has exposed just how close to collapse it is, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

The fragility of the global food system fills me with dread – and the war with Iran has exposed just how close to collapse it is www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Just remember: the hateful claims made against Muslims today were previously made against Jews (and often still are). Sometimes word-for-word. Same hate, different targets. We all stand together against hatred, or we will be picked off one by one.

For those asking why this dickhead is wearing a cape, (1) he's a dickhead and (2) he used to dress as The Joker, this is actually an improvement

5m tonnes of CO2 emitted in just 14 days of US war on Iran, analysis finds Exclusive: War in the Middle East is draining the global carbon budget faster than 84 countries combined

A disaster also for the environment www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

For many years, the US government persuaded most of its own citizens - and many others - that its intentions and behaviour were benign, despite the perpetual wars, coups, murders, resource grabs, the ecocide and neocolonialism. If Trump has done one thing for us, it is to rip the mask away.

As Antonio Gramsci pointed out, "common sense" is a "chaotic aggregate" of opinion, which is strongly affected by mainstream narratives. It feeds back into those narratives, reinforcing the status quo. He also observed that "The dominant ideas in any society are the ideas of the ruling class".

The vaccines worked

仮想社会のジェンダー平等 仮想空間において、望ましい社会を作り、そこに世界の何億人ものユーザーがアクセスしたら、現実のほうが仮想社会が作る理想像に近づくことがあるかもしれない。

@chiematsumoto の最新ジェンダー・コラムでは、外国語学習アプリの中の仮想社会が、現実を追い抜いてジェンダー平等を実現しつつあることに言及する。初の女性首相が就任したとはいえ、日本はジェンダー・アップデートがAIに追いつくのだろうか。それとも現実社会に影響を与えうる数千万のユーザーによって、平等が実現するのを待つしかないのだろうか。

https://www.unfiltered.coop/gender-virtual-society/

#GenderEquality #Leadership #Japan

The Rise of Japan’s Female Trump: Why Takaichi Sanae Is the Worst Thing to Happen to Japanese Democracy Since Abe 2.0 Takaichi endorsed “Hitler’s Election Strategy” in the ‘90s, threatened TV networks as communications minister, claims foreigners abuse Nara’s deer without evidence and speaks to the Gods #InsaneSanae

As the ratings for Prime Minister Takaichi plummet and she is embroiled in scandal after scandal, I’ll repost:

She’s just a female fascist in a blue dress channeling the same xenophobia, right wing polices and voodoo economics of her mentor, Shinzo Abe

tokyopaladin.substack.com/p/the-rise-o...

Immigrant Crime in Japan Is Dropping as Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric Soars - Unseen Japan Right-wingers in Japan claim that the country is becoming more unsafe due to immigrants. The data doesn't back that up.

Increasingly visible foreigners are an ideal scapegoat for Japan's current woes. They have weak legal protections and little cultural backing. Best of all for propagandists, their numbers are small, so it’s hard to get caught lying about them.

buff.ly/TkD9hkD

UK energy prices are soaring – and propagandists want to sell you a false reason why | George Monbiot The war on Iran has put fossil-fuel prices centre stage, but don’t believe those who tout ‘maximising the North Sea’ as our salvation, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

If it's sometimes hard to tell the difference between fossil-fuel lobbyists and the billionaire press, that's because there isn’t one.
My column on the politicians, journalists and junktanks using the Iran crisis as an excuse to extract our remaining gas and oil.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

You've all heard of the Resource Curse: countries are impoverished by rich resources in their territories, as these trigger colonial looting.
Now we see the Base Curse: if you host a US base, you don't enhance your security. You make yourself a target.

A cartoon by Ron Cobb (1975), showing a shadow of US B-52 bomber above cratered landscape. Two people who look like Vietnamese peasants look up; one says “they’re having problems with their economy again.”

This is from 1975.

Quit ChatGPT: right now! Your subscription is bankrolling authoritarianism | Rutger Bregman As a historian, I’ve studied the major consumer boycotts of history. We can take down ChatGPT and send a powerful signal to Silicon Valley, says author and historian Rutger Bregman

Quit ChatGPT: right now! Your subscription is bankrolling authoritarianism www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Netflix Backs Out of Bid for Warner Bros., Paving Way for an Ellison Takeover

The richest man owns X.

The second and third richest men control Google.

The fourth richest man owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

The fifth richest man owns The Washington Post.

And now the sixth richest could soon take over both Paramount and Warner Bros.

See the problem here?