Verbijsterende afgang van minister Mariëlle Paul in interview met NOSjournaal over terugtrekken van dit plan⤵️ 1 dag na de verkiezingen. ”ik heb een andere afweging gemaakt”, zegt ze. Welke afweging dan? Was het niet een groot uitzendbureau dat enorm veel geld stortte in de VVD partijkas?

Bizarre verbetenheid van wat ooit een partij van vrolijke liberalen was. www.rtl.nl/nieuws/polit...

“Het enige stabiele aan de VVD is de onverschillige achterban, die het allemaal niks uitmaakt dat ze een spoor achterlaten van flagrante leugens, Henk kamp, gestruikelde kabinetten en een genormaliseerd extreem rechts.” www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOkk...

"Build A Ballroom"

You lost 0.7 million voters. Largest loss ever in your PVV hate hoaxer history, and your 35 years in politics Since you promised to do ~300 things "on day one" And did .. none. Literally: zero, in 11 months So you ran away, crying. Like the 62 year old toddler you are ;) bsky.app/profile/tona...

it's time for journos to start asking Johnson meta questions "Speaker, on 5 occasions last week you said 'I haven't seen it' when asked about news events w/big implications for public policy. Do you ever read the news, and do you agree it's problematic for the Speaker to be so woefully uninformed?"

Did Bari Weiss write the poll questions?

An inconvenient truth. @turnbulldugarte.com and @emiliabelknap.bsky.social puncture a pervasive myth. ‬ "Among young respondents aged 18-25, a very comfortable majority of women reject Reform UK (75%), and a similarly large majority of men in the same age group share the same view (71%)."

Sombere, maar (helaas) zeer realistische analyse van @kustaw.bsky.social. De democratie gaat zichzelf niet redden. Aan de slag dus. Hoeveel radicale verrechtsing kan de democratie nog aan, vraagt columnist Kustaw Bessems zich af www.volkskrant.nl/columns-opin...

Tijdens het debat over de verkiezingsuitslag moet Wilders hier door de democratische partijen hard op worden aangesproken. @laurabromet.bsky.social @jpaternotte.bsky.social @mirjambikker.bsky.social Gemeenten wijzen aantijgingen Wilders over stemgesjoemel van de hand - nos.nl/l/2588722

New York Times editorial board has compiled "a list of 12 markers of democratic erosion." www.nytimes.com/interactive/... This is what "not the odds, but the stakes" was all about. During the 2024 campaign, those 12 markers could have been in place and operating to guide news coverage everywhere.

USA today 31st of October 2025. MAGA Stormttroopers terrorising civilians, directed by a narcissistic toddler.

New from Bellingcat: “‘Pattern of Extreme Brutality’ — Tear gas, pepper balls among weapons used by federal agents at Illinois immigration protests.” Read the full investigation: www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/10...

Figure this. US Army soldiers are forced by a narcissistic toddler to randomly kill South Americans. Nobody in the world is safe anymore of US terror.

Losing populist Wilders starts spreading totally unfounded and conspiratorial messages on social media about voter fraud. Where did he get the playbook? From another white wigged Orban buddy? Wilders deelt berichten die suggereren dat Kiesraad niet onafhankelijk is - nos.nl/l/2588474#UP...

Hey folks, an update on the battle to bring down prices!

REALITY CHECK: On Republicans and the politics of SNAP, or food stamps, which could be cut off this weekend.

Rake column van @lotfielhamidi.bsky.social in @groene.nl www.groene.nl/artikel/stra...

Rep. Ryan Zinke: "Our economy is not great."

Understandable, albeit with a helicopter view. Zooming in, the radical right parties (PVV, JA21, FvD & BBB) still hold a combined 46 seats in parliament. If we add the ‘liberal’ but rightward radicalised VVD and hardline christian SGP, the populist/radical right parties hold 71 of 150 seats (47%).

Zo is het. Nederland is een coalitiedemocratie. Dus geen ge-"too close to call" svp. www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2025/...

Remarkable study of Nazi Chic in popular music. www.amazon.nl/This-Aint-Ro...

Very good and relevant episode of the Spectator Book Club by the outstanding Sam Leith @questingvole.bsky.social. Why do civilized societies collapse? podcasts.apple.com/nl/podcast/l...

Volkskrant 🙏

Hallo Venray! Wachten op verkiezingsuitslag: ogen gericht op Venray en briefstemmen - nos.nl/l/2588615

Een analyse die staat als een huis:

Two prosecutors are placed on leave after referring to the Trump supporters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6 as a "mob of rioters" and seeking a stiff sentence for a pardoned attacker who later turned up armed near Obama's house. @alanfeuer.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/u...

Putin is a war criminal. Russia is a terrorist state.

I don't see a lot of people talking about this, so I want to highlight something GOOD Billie Eilish stood in a room full of billionaires and said "you're billionaires... Why?" She donated 11.5 MILLION DOLLARS to food equity and climate orgs, which Stephen Colbert announced to said billionaires.

The Justice Department locked two federal prosecutors out of their devices and placed them on leave after they wrote in a court filing that on Jan. 6, 2021, “thousands of people comprising a mob of rioters attacked the U.S. Capitol.” https://bit.ly/3X6Q6iU

Goedemorgen. Je geeft dus toe dat peilingen sturend zijn. Daarom: verbied peilingen voor de verkiezingen

It is also very concerning that the FvD is openly pro-Kremlin. According to @defenddemocracy.bsky.social research, FvD was part of a Russian propaganda ecosystem during the campaign: defenddemocracy.eu/russian-prav...

With the official prognosis giving one additional seat to PVV and one to FvD compared to the ext poll, the narrative should really not be that the Netherlands/Jetten has beaten the radical right. The far right bloc remains remarkably stable.

After almost all votes are counted, D66 and PVV have equal number of seats — D66 is still biggest party with ca 2,000 more votes. VVD and CDA both lost a seat compared to the exit poll, while FvD and CU won one. D66-GL/PvdA-VVD-CDA seems only option but would fall short of majority in Senate. 🇳🇱

Sorry hoor, er is maar 1 schreeuwer, aka notoire haatzaaier. Vervolgens resulteren slecht voorbereide en abominabel geleide debatten in de chaos waar hij garen bij spint. Buitenlandse journalisten over onze verkiezingen: 'Iedereen schreeuwt tegen elkaar' - nos.nl/l/2588372

Het transcript van het gesprek met Herman Tjeenk Willink is ook te lezen. Betaalmuurvrij, in NRC: www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2025/...

The Netherlands’ election today is one of the biggest in the world! …in terms of the number of parties taking part, anyway. 18 to 27 parties on the ballot, depending on where you vote. My summary here (not sure this link will work, trying it out): view.e.economist.com?qs=2fc80d322...

Karoline Leavitt officially announced the "Launch of a large-scale investigation to find the people behind 'No Kings.'" I've saved her some time.

Een van de mooiste kanten van onze verkiezingen, is de onmisbare inzet van vrijwilligers. Van het opzettenin de vroege uurtjes tot het tellen van stemmen in de laatste uurtjes. Een vaak wat onderbelichte pijler van de democratie, die door hun werk minder snel gekaapt wordt. Dank!

Verder kan ik me in het brede midden prima voorstellen dat je ergens anders landt, maar voor mij nu even niet. Ga in ieder geval stemmen en als het even kan niet op de flanken, dat is echt beter. Maar je gaat er natuurlijk zelf over. #eind

Fascism within arm's length.

Donald Trumps plan to subvert the midterms is underway From David Graham, on the cover of the next edition of @theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

The Founders knew Congress - especially the House - was the backbone of U.S. democracy. It should be a huge story that Mike Johnson, serving Trump, has all but shut it down From the Reichstag Fire to Putin's toothless Duma, this is what dictators do. My new column www.inquirer.com/columnists/a...

Decennialang maakt Herman Tjeenk Willink zich zorgen over de democratische rechtsorde. In de verkiezingscampagne kwam dit fundamentele thema tot zijn misnoegen nauwelijks ter sprake, terwijl het nú belangrijk is. „Ik wil niet het verwijt kunnen krijgen: hád het dan gezegd.” buff.ly/E7DMnFJ

Prosecutors have demanded jail sentences of seven years for three self-styled “sovereign citizens” who are accused of plotting violent attacks against the Dutch government.