"Why Palestine is at its core a struggle against fossil capitalism—and why the battle for survival waged by Palestinians today, in Gaza and beyond, is inseparable from the fight for the future of the planet." New in @hidden-cities.com by Adam Hanieh, Robert Knox & Rafeef Ziadah:

Seamus Culleton, an Irish immigrant in ICE detention in Texas since September: "It’s a modern-day concentration camp, with filth and sickness and disease." His lawyer: “When I went to see Seamus, he looked jaundiced. They don’t let them spend enough time outside. It’s cruelty. Pure cruelty.”

"Why Palestine is at its core a struggle against fossil capitalism—and why the battle for survival waged by Palestinians today, in Gaza and beyond, is inseparable from the fight for the future of the planet." New in @hidden-cities.com by Adam Hanieh, Robert Knox & Rafeef Ziadah:

"See, we don’t need to go to Dubai anymore because Dubai came to us." Great dispatch on the "Dubaization" of wealthy enclaves of Baghdad—or “money laundering as urban development," remaking parts of the city for "the power brokers" and "gangster aristocrats of Baghdad." www.ft.com/content/aa7c...

"The impetus for normalization with Israel is not about diplomacy alone—it is about consolidating the region’s primary centers of wealth and power within a single bloc aligned with US interests." Adam Hanieh, Robert Knox, and Rafeef Ziadah in @hidden-cities.com www.hidden-cities.com/p/why-the-st...

You’re going to lose your job making widgets, but don’t worry, profits will skyrocket for the super rich who got another huge tax cut from Trump.

“Palestine is at its core a struggle against fossil capitalism.” Adam Hanieh, Robert Knox, and Rafeef Ziadah on why “the battle for survival waged by Palestinians today, in Gaza and beyond, is inseparable from the fight for the future of the planet.” www.hidden-cities.com/p/why-the-st...

For all of the talk of “data” shaping the Post’s future, and other interminable corporate-speak, the best business for the Post is obvious: reporting on Washington, especially Trump. But Bezos has other interests in mind: his own. So he’ll kill the Post and turn it into some zombie National Review.

The inescapable conclusion with Bezos & the Post is that what fueled its recent renaissance—reporting on Trump’s Washington—is incompatible with Bezos’s own interests now. He’d rather cozy up to Trump, win favors and govt contracts, than see the Post live up to its name and cover Trump like it did.

The “data” being what Bezos hears in Trump-friendly circles in Washington and Florida.

When Republicans do it / When Democrats do it

Katie Mettler, a former chair of the Washington Post guild, said: “I’m glad Will Lewis has been fired. I wish it had happened before he fired all my friends.” www.nytimes.com/2026/02/07/t...

Tulsi Gabbard hijacked the NSA’s intelligence operations and took orders from the White House to bury an NSA report of a phone call between foreign intelligence and a person close to Trump, according to this major Guardian scoop. Who is Gabbard covering up for? www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

lol of course bsky.app/profile/acyn...

Really pathetic how the MSM is repeating White House claims that a staffer posted the racist video after *they denied earlier that it was racist *did not name staffer or say they'd been fired *post was amid dozens that he sent out *post came at midnight. Was this staffer in his bedroom?

Why grant Trump officials anonymity to say this, when it doesn’t match everything we know and have seen on Trump’s social media accounts for years? And when only a few hours ago, the White House press secretary was practically defending the post and dismissing criticism of it as “fake outrage”?

There’s no more international news in the Washington Post, no more sports, no books section, no metro… but don’t worry, Megan McArdle is still a fixture in the Bezos-blessed Opinion pages, arguing that Jeffery Epstein wasn’t really a pedophile because “it's not like the girls were four.”

There’s no more international news in the Washington Post, no more sports, no books section, no metro… but don’t worry, Megan McArdle is still a fixture in the Bezos-blessed Opinion pages, arguing that Jeffery Epstein wasn’t really a pedophile because “it's not like the girls were four.”

Vile

Among the emails: a 2009 missive in which Ross responded supportively when Epstein told him he was contemplating funding an art exhibition, tentatively titled “Statutory,” that would showcase underage models dressed to look older than they were. “You are incredible,” Ross said replying to the idea.

“a very basic obligation of trial court judges is to decide cases—both those that are “political” and the many, many more that are not—according to objective facts. But for Trump judges, the only facts that matter are the ones that Trump authorizes them to believe.” @jaywillis.net

How many of The Free Press’s investors and wealthy backers are listed in the Epstein files so far, I wonder?

Marty Baron: “Bezos’s sickening efforts to curry favor with President Trump have left an especially ugly stain of their own. This is a case study in near-instant, self-inflicted brand destruction.” www.theguardian.com/media/2026/f...

Another batch of Trump's judicial nominees refused in their confirmation hearings today to publicly acknowledge that Joe Biden won the 2020 election, which annoyed Sen. Richard Blumenthal enough for him to call them "monkeys" and "puppets"

Kind of amazed she had it turned on? I only turn it on when I'm crossing borders or am visiting a country controlled by a repressive regime ahhh shit

"Struggling to handle the downstream effects of President Trump’s immigration crackdown" is quite the euphemism for DOJ lawyers trying to defend lawless and unconstitutional actions by ICE, including defying court orders. www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...

“This isn’t a tactical disagreement,” said @drhahellyer.bsky.social. “It’s a strategic split over what stability means in the Middle East.” www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/w...

More Saudi investment in Syria, part of Sharaa's vision of using foreign investment (mostly Gulf money) to fund reconstruction — except how does a new private Syrian airline, or real estate "in the old towns," help house millions of displaced Syrians? www.reuters.com/world/middle...

I'm no constitutional lawyer, but claiming a judicial warrant is a burdensome "new layer" of warrant requirement simply ignores the constitution. "We can't do that," Johnson says — "that" being uphold the 4th Amendment. Remember, this stems from ICE just asserting this authority in a secret memo.

Just wait until they roll out Trump Ballots for the midterms — the only ballots that count.

"Having been invited in 2010 to an Epstein dinner with Woody Allen and then Prince Andrew in New York, the magazine editor, Tina Brown, replied: 'What the fuck is this . . .? The paedophile’s ball?' Brown’s reaction should have been everyone’s." www.ft.com/content/3f82...

Trump to Harvard: 2 billion $ NYT: Harvard to pay 2B$ Harvard: no Trump: 1B Harvard: no NYT: Negotiations intensify Trump: 200 million NYT: Harvard-Trump reach deal Harvard: no Trump: 0$ Harvard: ok NYT: Harvard not paying! Trump loses. Trump: How about 1B$ Harvard: no NYT: Negotiations resume!

It’s a broken record at this point, but this revelation alone would topple any previous presidency — nonstop media coverage, congressional investigations, impeachment. Trump’s corruption is so unprecedented but also so brazen, he obviously thinks he’s immune.

the Epstein files make it very clear why the MeToo backlash was so extreme and why so much of elite society preferred Donald Trump ruling us like a king to the barest hint of accountability

It’s a broken record at this point, but this revelation alone would topple any previous presidency — nonstop media coverage, congressional investigations, impeachment. Trump’s corruption is so unprecedented but also so brazen, he obviously thinks he’s immune.

“This sure looks like a violation of the foreign emoluments clause, and more to the point, it looks like a bribe.” "A five-alarm fire about the federal government being for sale.” www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

A senior Emirati government official, who is indistinguishable from the Emirati government itself, lined Trump's pockets with a $187 million "investment" up front, and then the Trump administration gave the UAE rare access to tightly guarded American AI chips. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Stephen Miller and co just can’t abide the Constitution — too woke.

Unmarked car, no lights or police insignia. Masked armed men leap out. Victim not in the act of committing any crime. This is not how a serious federal law enforcement agency acts in a free society. How is this not supposed to be a “right wing paramilitary force loyal to the regime”?

You’ll be shocked to discover that the guy who likes to dress in Nazi-style overcoats is also anti-Semitic. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/31/u...

“The Iran we knew couldn’t be conveniently minimized to caricatures and platitudes about its present and past.” Kourosh Ziabari mourns a lost Iran, where social cohesion, civil dialogue, and collective identity have cratered under state repression. www.hidden-cities.com/p/an-elegy-f...

Super weird how none of this stuff wound up in the Isaacson biography.

"Iran’s metamorphosis is that of a country estranged from its identity, deluded about its present, confused about its future, and detached from its past." A new essay by Kourosh Ziabari, mourning a lost Iran: www.hidden-cities.com/p/an-elegy-f...

Happy 45th birthday to Once in a Lifetime by Talking Heads, released as a single on this day in 1981. Here's David introducing that video

Syria's reconstruction could consolidate a new era of authoritarianism, with @freddydeknatel.bsky.social . Order from Ashes episode 99, “Who Will Rebuild Syria?” podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w... open.spotify.com/episode/33Sp... thecenturyfoundation.podbean.com/e/who-will-r...

Order from Ashes is back! After a hiatus, we're dropping new podcasts every Monday morning @centuryintl.bsky.social . We missed you. Links to latest episodes in this thread.

Looking at the mug shots Bondi posted of folks who allegedly impeded ICE officers... I'm reminded me of some of the iconic 1960s images of 'criminals' from counter sitins and freedom rides

Anyone who paid attention knew that there was no doubt about the official number from the GHM being an undercount due to its historically conservative approach and due to inability to keep pace with the actual death rate. IDF now admits, like it did in 2021 and 2014, that it has an accurate record.