This is your regular reminder that the idea that Christianity is a thing uniform beliefs that everyone within “Western Civilization” believed and agreed on is a fiction that just ignores centuries of Christians killing each other and fighting literal wars over their different beliefs.

🧵; *completely* identifying the US with its authoritarian and racist cultural strains ignores the cultural forces that push in other directions — it sounds edgy in some spaces but it really just does pro-bono ideological work for fascists

Merz erklärt in München das Ende der internationalen Ordnung, und die Entfremdung von den USA, sorgt aber gleichzeitig mit Waffenkäufen dafür, das Abhängigkeiten weiter steigen & Techno-Faschisten Einfluss auf deutsche Rüstung und Daten haben. Da passt Rhetorik und Handeln überhaupt nicht zusammen.

As expected, in the final rule, EPA's Endangerment Finding repeal backs down entirely from challenging the science, choosing to focus on statutory arguments regarding EPA's authority. Good work, everyone who contributed to the @andrewdessler.com review!

Der Konzern #Palantir geht gegen das Schweizer Magazin „Republik“ vor. Das hatte in Recherchen nachgezeichnet, warum die Systeme des Unternehmens problematisch für Staaten und deren Souveränität sind. Das Magazin will sich von der Klage nicht einschüchtern lassen. netzpolitik.org/2026/david-g...

Die AfD-Affäre um Anstellungen von Familienangehörigen könnte weit größer sein als bislang bekannt. Laut Informationen @t-online.de ist Ehefrau von Markus Frohnmaier angestellt, Spitzenkandidat für B-W. Auch Chrupallas Büro ist betroffen. Recherche mit Annika Leister @larswienand.bsky.social

The great value of juries is not so much the powers they have, but the powers they prevent others from having.

New YouGov poll Favourability of world leaders in the US (net) 🇺🇦Volodymyr Zelensky (+14) 🇨🇦Mark Carney (+6) 🇲🇽Claudia Sheinbaum (+5) 🇬🇧King Charles III (+3) 🇯🇵Sanae Takaichi (+3) 🇮🇹Giorgia Meloni (+2) 🇫🇷Emmanuel Macron (+1) 🇩🇪Friedrich Merz (-1) 🇦🇷Javier Milei (-2) 🇧🇷Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (-4) 1/?

Bei der Klausur der EU-Chefs in Alden Biesen wird weniger über Ideen zur Liberalisierung des Binnemarktes, oder die überfällige Stärkung der Innovation geredet, sondern Druck auf die Aufweichung des Emissionshandels gemacht. Zur Erinnerung ein paar Fakten dazu. www.diepresse.com/20526132/kle...

Hier ist eines der tödlichen Gifte, die das demokratische System der USA zerstören. Es wird im immer größeren Dosen verabreicht. Patient ist stand heute fast tot.

"Subject to these pressures..news becomes divorced from its consumers’ daily reality in favour of what many critics have called a ‘Westminster soap opera’. That..breeds cynicism and alienation, leaving politicians and hacks competing for the honours of most despised profession in the country."

And India, and emerging economies more generally, edition.cnn.com/2026/02/11/c...

I've seen enough No 10 "resets" over the years to be sceptical about how much they actually achieve, but it is interesting that the post-McSweeney/Allan operation have been quite rapid and punchy in responding to Jim Ratcliffe. www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

Nichts gelernt aus Altmaier 2012. China, Indien u.a. werden es in ein paar Jahren danken.

Ich kenne relativ viele Industrie, die gar nicht jubelt, weil sie viel investiert haben und nun einen Wettbewerbsnachteil gegenüber den Konkurrenten, die einfach abgewartet haben.

'"emerging economies, which may be able to harness increasingly cheap wind and solar at an even faster rate to power their economic development “..a US prioritizing fossil fuel.., and emerging economies positioning themselves for an electrified energy future.”' edition.cnn.com/2026/02/11/c...

The warrior ethos Hegseth has instilled used maximum lethality to intimidate, demoralize, hunt and kill the enemies of our country unhindered by politically correct and overbearing rules of engagement.

It may be surprising that the EU's Climate Law - including the net 90% target for 2040 - passed in the European Parliament. A closer look at the adopted text explains why those in the EPP who favour weaker climate ambition could support the deal and did not vote with the far-right parties. /1

Sometimes I remember Reagan removing Jimmy Carter’s solar panels and I think we’ve been enduring this shit for way too many years.

And I’m saying this as a Black Jew who is sometimes mistaken for a Palestinian in Jewish spaces and who has had a lot of occasion to think through the overlapping ideological commitments within colonialist Zionism and white supremacy

“I think Greenland was a wake-up call. There is more talk [in Brussels] about replacing one dependency with another.” This is what I told the Wall Street Journal about Europe’s increasing dependence on US LNG following the end of Russian pipeline gas.

Wichtiges Argument von Stefanie Walter (@stefwalter.bsky.social) in der NZZ: Nachgiebigkeit der EU gegenüber Trump hat auch interne Kosten und spielt EU-skeptischen Kräften in die Hände.

The European Union (and its member states) can't afford to let China divide and conquer. How any don't fully get that is beyond my understanding.

Putin, Trump, Xi want Europe weak.

The performative "pushback" against Macron is often from the leaders of EU member states that prefer to do their state interventionism more discretely. See also VW Gesetz or Fincantieri.

While Zillow is removing its climate risk data from public view, the first truly open climate risk database. Kudos, @carbonplan.org

Aaand there you go: Trump’s sudden about-face on the most important Canada-US border crossing came after meeting with the billionaire family that owns the rival bridge. Nice scoop, confirming suspicions of everyone who has followed this file and is familiar with Trump www.nytimes.com/2026/02/10/w...

I've spent a lot of time in the USA for work and pleasure. I've worked with American military personnel on exercises and operations. I'm married to an American. I've met far, far, far more people that look like those Minnesotans than of that myth. That's why what's happening is so ghastly to us.

As expected, all three votes today on the aspects of the 'safe third countries' list at EU level were carried by the EPP with the three far-right parties. Each of the votes looked like a variation of this (data via @howtheyvote.eu):

I remember well discussions with colleagues from Poland in 2024 arguing that Olaf Scholz was a bigger problem for their security than if Trump were to be reelected. This is a big change.

Dass der ÖRR ernsthaft mit den Vertretern einer rechtsextremen Partei diskutieren möchte, ob die USA unter Trump ein Vorbild für Deutschland sein könnten, zeigt nur weit verbreitet in zentralen Institutionen jene zersetzende, suizidale Einstellung ist, die unsere Demokratie im Kern bedroht.

'failure to unify its fragmented system of national bank deposit insurance schemes is seen as one of the main reasons why its lenders struggle to expand..resistance..including Germany..which argued that a common insurance scheme would result in moral hazard' www.luxtimes.lu/europeanunio...

Ministerin Reiche treibt die Zerstörung des industriellen Standorts Deutschland konsequent voran.

Milliardäre mit derartigen Ansichten & und erklärtermaßen anti-demokratischer Programmatik soll es in Deutschland erlaubt werden, Kontrolle über oder Zugang zu kritischen Infrastrukturen bei Polizei (Palantir) und Bundeswehr (Drohnen) zu haben. Die Bundesregierung muss diese Fehler abwenden.

WHY IS THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION NOT DEEPENING THE SINGLE MARKET, ask EU member states who have done all in their power to ensure the Commission is not in a position to deepen the single market. As unelected/ivory tower as "Brussels" might be, it only wields the power national capitals grant it.

Everyone knows today's young do not get a fair shot Top five words Britons use to describe the next generation's future 👇 Worried (55%) Uncertain (52%) Frustrated (28%) Conflicted (18%) Angry (17%)

⚠️New @ippr.org research: 300,000 children will be hit by the Govt’s earned settlement plans. Retrospective changes will deepen child poverty, block access to higher education & trap families in years of uncertainty. This is precarity by design. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

The remarkable thing is Labour have basically made 'anti-child poverty' and 'climate change' the two core missions or this Government and... ... basically refuse to talk about one or them. Genuinely bizarre.

They are in one of the best places in the world to eat food but can't go out either because Italian food is too exotic, or because they know they would be booed. Not just the VP, not just abroad. Key members of the Trump cabinet live on military bases (Hegseth, Noem, Rubio, Miller).

"The American media makes things that are abnormal seem normal. The European press doesn’t do that. So you’ll see when they report on Trump’s rambling Davos speech, they will say it made no sense. In the US press, you’ll just see excerpts and an attempt to sanitize it." — @anneapplebaum.bsky.social

I do want to shout-out my fellow sociologists, who have collectively created a discipline so woke that not a single one of our introductory textbooks can make it past Florida's censors. Great work everyone.

"I might disagree with Mandelson on his politics, but he's a very intelligent man and would be good choice for ambassador". Nigel Farage, Dec 2024 Nigel Farage condemns Sir Keir Starmer calling his appointment of Lord Mandelson as US ambassador a "grave error of judgement". 5th Feb 2026

Es tut sich was: Allein im letzten Quartal haben 600 Praxen die Compugroup-Software des Nius-Finanziers Frank Gotthardt durch ein Konkurrenzprodukt ersetzt.

»Bisher ist in keinem Land in Westeuropa oder Nordamerika ein Rechtspopulist aus eigener Kraft an die Macht gekommen. Immer bedurfte es konservativer Kollaborateure aus dem Establishment.« @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social www.spiegel.de/spiegel/poli...

New on FT website: Downing Street has refused to say whether Sir Keir Starmer knew Palantir was a client of Peter Mandelson’s lobbying firm when they both visited the company in Washington last February — ahead of it winning a £240mn UK government contract. www.ft.com/content/5bba...

Some thoughts from trawling the Epstein files. Epstein was a nobody. It’s mysterious where he got his money and billionaire lifestyle. It’s possible he collected compromising material for extortion. A major question is whether he worked with intelligence agencies www.irishtimes.com/world/us/202...

Aptly in 'Futurism': "It used a 'hydraulic powered cutting machine” to “neatly cut” the millions of books it got from used book retailers, and then scanned the pages “on high speed, high quality, production level scanners.” Then a recycling company would be scheduled..' futurism.com/future-socie...

What everyone missed about Warsh! His family business empire makes him uniquely vulnerable to Trump

Per 2023 data from the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (which EPA is trying to eliminate), the largest single source of GHGs in the US is the James H Miller Jr power plant in Quinton, AL, which released 16.6 MMTCO2e. Texas just authorized the planned GW Ranch plant to release 33 MMTCO2e annually.