National Archives in Prague in the late 1990s. No heat, diesel trucks backed into the courtyard and spewed fumes that permeated the building and lightly kippered all the researchers, and a very kind archivist kept plonking coffee right onto the KSČ Politburo documents I was carefully transcribing.

Imagine recognising you have a problem and electing to deal with that problem instead of dicking around tendentiously parsing subordinate clauses written by men in breeches.

Yes, two of the biggest beneficiaries of EU funding should be easy pickings for the Trump/ Russia efforts to convince Poland and Hungary to leave the EU. www.statista.com/chart/18794/...?

See, a government list of "media offenders" is very different from federal censorship, which thankfully ended earlier in the year.

I have made it to the 7th circle of Dante's hell:

Seriously? How hard is it to cook or eat a turkey? My guy, my family of immigrants had no problem hosting Thanksgiving, including roast turkey with all the trimmings,* within 2 months of arriving on these verdant shores. *Except sweet potatoes, which remain controversial.

Book workshops are *fantastic.* Whether or not resources are an issue, the Zoom version (2-3 hours) works incredibly well and makes it much easier for participants to attend. Other book workshop tips 🧵:

Mainwaring 1993 ftw, always and forever journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

I’ll keep pushing this line of analysis because I’m increasingly convinced the clearest path out of this mess is for Dems to adopt a relentless anti-corruption, anti-inequality, anti-oligarchy, pro-democracy platform. The Dem leadership hasn’t realized it yet, but they’re now a reform party.

On the other hand, life in the European Soviet satellites has vastly improved: people are so much better off (richer, freer) by 1995 or in 2025 than they were in 1975. (notable and horrific exceptions: FYR and Albania in the mid-1990s)

Zohran Mamdani won with 50.4%. Eric Adams won in 2021 with 67%. Bill de Blasio won in 2017 with 66%

How did the interview go, sweetheart?

One more reason to use and protect mail-in ballots (81% of CA’s ballots were mailed in the last election.)

Neville Chamberlain would like a word

The Cuomo campaign should also appeal to its Balkan voters, addressing Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians.

The town over from our tiny one: patriotic songs, unicorns and giraffes, banjos and ukuleles, and so much hope. Then we bunked off and the local restaurants made a killing.

Putin, an autocrat, passed a Foreign Agents law in 2012. Orban, an autocrat, uses investigations, tax audits, regulations, and new laws to harass civil organizations in name of sovereignty. Both sought to intimidate civil society, so that no independent or opposing voices remained.

After the drone attack, Poland has invoked Article 4 of NATO. Note: a) Article 4 calls for consultation, NOT mutual defense, b) Not the first time Russia has "accidentally" bombed Poland, nor the 1st time Poland used Article 4 c) Yes, it's a Putin troll; no, it is not an inevitable escalation

Every day, my mother carefully boiled milk, bc otherwise we'd be exposed to tuberculosis, massive GI issues, and other pathogen-borne disease. When we came to the US, you could just drink milk cold! straight from the bottle! with no gross coat to skim! Welcome to communist-era Poland, y'all.

A must read, especially for anyone who thinks that making little concessions and keeping your head down will work:

Nicolae Ceaușescu was known as the Genius of the Carpathians, the Man of Humanity, the Hero of Heroes and Romania's First Architect. He was endlessly praised by his inner circle, the media, and state-organized public demonstrations. And then came December 25, 1989.

Stalin purged his brilliant general Mikhail Tukachevsky, known for his commitment to professionalism. He was executed, along with several other generals, in 1937. Stalin also purged over 35K officers. The result was the Winter War disaster, and a near-total lack of preparation for Barbarossa.

To punish critics and to intimidate dissidents, the communist parties in the Soviet bloc would conduct raids on their apartments, searching for more pretexts to put them on show trials.

You can end an assault immediately by saying you consent. Just remember how you asked for it.

Red carpet for Putin:

At just over 2 troops per 1000 inhabitants, the deployment to DC is larger per capita than the US deployment in Afghanistan except during the Obama surge 2009-13.

Putin plays Trump like a violin, over and over again.

All that, and then the attentiveness/ admiring looks. Astonishing.

Putin scored a major PR victory: claiming agreement where none exists, once again trotting out the "root causes of the conflict canard," and getting his "businessmen" to do their intelligence jobs. Trump profusely thanking him was just the cherry on top of this noxious sundae.

Someone teach the fine folks of Anchorage to chant “Путин-хуйло!” stat

Just to clarify, the HHS and NIH will abandon research into mRNA Covid vaccines because people don't trust them, but will continue research into mRNA cancer vaccines because they could save lives and eliminate fatal disease.

No, he’s not giving Putin Alaska, but he is giving Putin a huge gift: the legitimacy of touching down on US soil at the invitation of a US president. A reward for the full-scale invasion of a sovereign, democratic country that the United States and its European allies support.

Trofim Lysenko insisted on Lamarck being right, rejected Mendelian genetics, and as Director of the Institute of Genetics of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, was responsible not only for the political prosecution of his critics, but for idiotic policies that led to the deaths of thousands.

Communist regimes insisted on a "propaganda of success," with the media daily and breathlessly reporting ever-higher quotas being met by the heroic workers and massive economic growth. Stalin sent the (few) authors of unfavorable economic reports to the gulag. This of course is very different.

Here’s hoping university administrators are as clear eyed about protecting academic freedom and faculty governance as the signatories of this excellent letter.

Autocratic regimes are infamous for censoring the news, making sure that the Dear Leader is always portrayed in a favorable light, and ensuring a never ending “propaganda of success” This, of course, is exactly like that.

The Supreme Court’s “shadow docket” has cast very different shadows depending on which party holds the White House. When lower courts blocked Trump admin policies, SCOTUS intervened on an emergency basis to lift those orders in 77% of cases. For the Biden administration, that number was 0%.

The Polish communist government declared martial law in 1981, in response to mass societal discontent and protest. It sent out tanks into the streets to intimidate the population. This, of course, is very different.

Day 3 of fielding media fact-checkers asking whether Zohran Mamdani is a communist. No. He's not a communist. He's not calling for a centrally planned economy. He's not calling for a single ruling party. He respects pluralism. Some of his ideas are silly, but it's not b/c he's a communist, ffs.

Both communist and fascist regimes would strip people of their citizenship for "anti-regime behavior." People were forced to emigrate, and given one-way travel documents that left them stateless. This, of course, is entirely different.

To instill terror in the Polish population during WWII, the Nazis would arbitrarily round up people on the streets, and then detain them, torture them, send them to the camps ,or just summarily execute them. This, of course, is entirely different. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%81a...

This hyphenated hyphenated American very much agrees

Stefan Zweig wrote in The World of Yesterday that he knew everything was over in 1930s Germany when squads of young uniformed thugs began to jump out of trucks to beat up protesters. Someone organized, trained, provided uniforms, and provided trucks. Someone let them legally terrorize society.

Political keyfabe gets covered with breathless fascination. Our constitutional crisis, not so much.

This, a thousand times.

🇵🇱⚖️🗳️ The rule of law repair process in Poland just got incredibly more difficult. I expect President Nawrocki to be even less cooperative than Duda, as Nawrocki will work hard for a PiS parliamentary election victory. Tough times ahead. 1/

Nawrocki with 50.9. Five more years. wiadomosci.onet.pl/wybory/wybor...

Exit poll has Trzaskowski at 50.3. If anyone needs me, I’m at home, sacrificing chickens.

Communist regimes determined what could be taught and researched at universities, insisted on programs in Lysenkoism and Scientific Marxism-Leninism, abolished other departments, and controlled who could attend and teach. This, of course, is entirely different.