this is the simple answer to people who keep saying NATO expansion matters. Sure, it matters because it presented an obstacle to Russian imperial ambitions. Putin didn't invade because he hated NATO expansion, he hated NATO expansion because he wanted to invade

Hardly new or surprising at this point, but it's still so crazy how the US president goes to bat for Russia, aping the Russian government's propaganda, lying to the world on a Russian dictator's behalf, and trying to help Russian military aggression succeed against a US-partnered European democracy.

Sauron wants to see Frodo succeed.

Per NY Times’s Michael Grynbaum on X, this is Sharyn Alfonsi’s email to her “60 Minutes” colleagues in full:

Al Qaeda’s high point came with a cult of personality around Osama bin Laden. His successor, Ayman al Zawahiri, was once described as “a black hole of charisma,” and couldn’t replicate bin Laden’s (relative) success. Not a perfect analogy, but I’ve been thinking about it a bunch lately.

“But Kennedy nonetheless deserves to be the sole name on the façade of the performing-arts center; he recognized the value of artistic liberty in a way that no one with Trump’s authoritarian reflexes ever can,” writes David Remnick in the New Yorker. www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...

Absolutely A+ game

Nobody works this hard for this long to cover up something this bad unless they are guilty.

Alexandre Cabanel: Study for an Angel in 'Paradise Lost' (1867) #art #man #male

This makes everything better

Muting a Black woman to claim the vote was unanimous is so incredibly on the nose

This guy was just confirmed to be US ambassador to South Africa

If you slept on DJT’s monologue to the nation yesterday, here’s the short version.

Who volunteers as tribute

I never want to hear another American make fun of North Korea ever again.

This evidence of Trump's 2020 coup attempt in Georgia is no more damning than the tape of Trump telling Georgia officials to "find" the exact number of votes he needed to reverse his loss to Biden. But the Supreme Court rewrote the Constitution to let him run, and a plurality of voters didn't mind.

The U.S. is giving dying mall vibes. I can't explain it, but you know I'm right.

If Europe doesn't manage to achieve consensus on taking Ru's frozen assets and giving them to Ukraine, then its strategic, moral, and self-preservation instincts are weaker than I thought. I'm a big believer in the European project, but failure here will be a bad sign for its future.

If the E.U. can’t come together to approve the reparations loan to Kyiv — and shoulder the legal risks that come with it — it will be that much harder to take the Europeans seriously on the Ukraine war. I know it’s being squeezed to say no by Washington and Moscow alike, but thems the breaks.

The Vanity Fair photographer knew what he was doing. (I doubt I’m the first to notice this but it hasn’t graced my TL)

seems like the bulk of modern conservatism is just white guys filling diap because things aren't exactly like when they were little kids and blaming it all on the gays & brown people

An absolute bedrock institution for understanding how the planet works, just civilization-scaled vandalism by the most incurious morons on Earth

UNREMARKABLE POSTCARD SERIES, No. 104. Grand & Main. El Segundo, Calif. 1950s.

this is not behavior becoming of a FIFA Peace Prize recipient.

WATCH: Replica of the Statue of Liberty topples due to strong winds in Guaíba, Brazil

Bit on the nose, that one

Very early morning sunrise over Pemaquid Point, Maine. Plein air watercolor. #pleinairwatercolor #maine #summerlight #watercolor

Rob Reiner was a good guy. He made a lot of movies about good guys, in worlds where not everyone was good and you didn’t have to be good. He made movies about people trying. He was angry, as many hopeful people are. He knew the world could be better and he wanted it to be. His death is devastating.

The cultural impact of Rob Reiner cannot be understated. Legend isn't big enough a word. It goes to 11. You can't handle the truth. As you wish. I'll have what she's having. I'm your number one fan. You guys wanna see a dead body? The very idea of a bucket list. The West Wing. All from his movies.

I feel you, screaming chicken who is also the statue of liberty

#birdoftheday #heronsandegrets

My regular attempt at having a weekend

This is a watercolour sketch from 1996 done while sitting on the Portsmouth pebble beach looking towards South Parade Pier. We used to visit frequently and I'm sure we would have had a few beers later. I have a lot of paintings and drawings done there. #art #Southsea #watercolour

“When this administration calls you a criminal illegal alien, what do you say?” karoline leavitt’s Nephew’s mom: “I’m heartbroken. I’m heartbroken for my son. I don’t even have a parking ticket… it doesn’t make any sense. I’m just as lost as you are.”

Scarborough harbour, recent pen and sepia ink drawing. #art #drawing #boats #scarborough

Buttigieg on Indiana: "The big part of how Trumpism works is to make you feel totally disempowered. To make him feel inevitable. And yet the clear takeaway from this is he is not unstoppable and you are not without power."

Re-upping this funded PhD - please share widely!

I am really enjoying this timeline. Every day is like a new adventure

This is so familiar it just hurts

The DOJ will potentially treat opponents of Trump’s policies as “domestic terrorists,” according to a leaked memo from AG Bondi. The First Amend. is mentioned in the memo — in a footnote. Time to prepare a new anti-Trump sign for the Saturday Overpass event! www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

This is not funny, but to perfectly honest: if ever there were a sign that you shouldn’t go to work today, this is it

Glad it’s not just me who feels stuck in a time loop

RIP Martin Parr

if they manage to rescind birthright citizenship, doesn't that mean nobody's a citizen? I know, they'll have some hand wavey thing to explain why it only applies to *certain* people, but what the hell even makes me a citizen, apart from having been born in Kansas?