@anneapplebaum2000 on the current moment of political violence: For the first time, “we have a social-media system that encourages the most outrageous, the most extreme statements, and then rewards them financially.” #TAF25 Watch here: bit.ly/46lDaLT

On Radio Atlantic, @anneapplebaum.bsky.social and @garrykasparov.bsky.social discuss how Donald Trump could mute the courts. They debate the best way to fight back against authoritarian forces, for both Democrats and average citizens, and agree on the urgency of this moment:

Border Czar Tom Homan was caught by the FBI accepting bribes - on camera - to deliver government contracts in exchange for $50,000 in cash. Pam Bondi knew. Kash Patel knew. Emil Bove knew. And they made the investigation go away. A corrupt attempt to conceal brazen graft.

The Disney brand, and the USA brand, sinking together. Parody from Dutch TV www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vRX...

On modern autocracies. With Brad Carr youtu.be/mqXOLNnqoeA?...

“if he can order the Navy to operate as a presidential hit squad on the high seas, any number of grim hypotheticals could become reality sooner than Americans might expect,” @radiofreetom.bsky.social argues:

The H1-B visa thing is, like everything else in the Trump administration, set up to carve up exceptions for friends and punish enemies. It’s the authoritarian thru-line that stitches everything together.

The US government and especially the State Dept are now fine with this kind of thing apnews.com/article/char...

David Frum on Jimmy Kimmel: "This is not cancel culture because it's not culture. It's state repression. It's an order from the government. Here is the script, you must read, if you do not read it, you will be taken off the air."

I’m beginning to think they lied about liking free speech…

Good moment to remember that US foreign policy is also being reoriented to enable foreign censors and authoritarian propaganda around the world www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

“ABC and CBS are making a serious miscalculation. Their servility to Trump will not earn them peace, only greater pressure.” That’s the German professional association of journalists, @djv.de, calling on major US media to support their journalists instead of preemptively silencing them.

EU proposes to build an anti-drone wall, together with the Ukrainians on.ft.com/4gBnOX2 via @FT

The EU will also set up a “drone alliance” with Kyiv, backed by €6bn in financing to “transform Ukrainian ingenuity into battlefield advantage and into joint industrialisation”, von der Leyen said.

Oh a forced sale to regime allies? Shocker.

Sure looks like Stephen Miller is saying to do away with free speech to silence, jail, and crush those who speak out against his efforts. And the "free speech absolutist" Elon Musk is agreeing with him. Can't believe so many people still claim that he's a "free speech absolutist."

Hold on, these are the "we don't have to bake your gay wedding cake" people?

Q: Do you think it would've been fitting to lower the flags to half staff when Melissa Hortman, the Minnesota House Speaker, was gunned down by an assassin? TRUMP: I'm not familiar. The who?

New book alert - "Prosecuting the Powerful: War Crimes and the Battle for Justice" - by Steve Crawshaw, now in a US edition. www.amazon.com/Prosecuting-...

korean reporting is nightmarish on the conditions Korean workers were contained in

“Calling people a fascist is dangerous, violent rhetoric.” ... Here's a compilation of Trump doing precisely that: ht: @micaherfan.com

Kyiv at night

Elon sharing the name of 66 random not-famous people to his many millions of followers because this person said they said things she didn’t like about Charlie Kirk. I erased the names and employers from the screenshot but you can see their jobs. Nurses, teachers etc.

reposting with alt text because this feels incredibly significant. the right-wing disinfo machine means a lot of the people grieving Charlie Kirk never heard any of the things he said that would have tarnished his brand as Guy Who Just Wants to Have Dialogue Across the Aisle

Absolutely psychopathic.

its wild how slippery objective consensus reality is right now

The estimated number of deaths so far due to USAID cuts are truly mind-boggling. Musk will be complicit in the unnecessary deaths of millions of people. (estimation below done by www.impactcounter.com/dashboard?vi... )

People missing an important point about folks getting fired for whatever they said about Charlie Kirk: Americans are being conditioned to be snitches on their fellow citizens who don’t toe a party line on what is “allowed” to be expressed. And employers are going along. It’s the new secret police

"The Professor Watchlist is a straightforward intimidation campaign, and you can draw a line directly from Kirk’s work attacking academics to the Trump administration's all-out war on American higher education, an assault on the right to speak freely and dissent." www.nytimes.com/2025/09/13/o...

NEW study from the nonpartisan Center for American Progress, by 2027, Trump’s tariffs and policies under his Big, Beautiful Bill will have decreased the incomes of all *but* the top 1% of American households—which will be $5,000 richer. trib.al/8LmxS0X

the person behind this unhinged, anti-factual editorial is set to decide coverage at one of the nation’s major news networks

John Solomon’s Informing America set out to create an echo chamber to shape public opinion. It’s working.

As of midnight, Poland has closed all border crossings with Belarus until further notice. The suspension applies in both directions, halting all movement across the border.

BREAKING: A majority of Brazil’s Supreme Court panel has voted to convict ex-President Jair Bolsonaro for plotting to overturn the 2022 election

19 drones launched over several hours, from Russia and Belarus, into Poland, were not a mistake. Many of them did not carry explosives, so they had not gone astray in Ukraine....they were a probe of Poland, NATO and Trump.

Most Americans do not want civil war, Adrienne LaFrance writes—anyone who is declaring it should stop. https://theatln.tc/XXO3AcvQ

It wasn’t just famous people, either, but threats to low level official, union leaders. One poll suggested that 1 in 5 Americans thought violence was a justified response to political disagreement. Anyway, thought about that episode today. It’s worth a listen: www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/arc...

And a thing Anne named—noting the man who broke into Nancy Pelosi’s house hoping to kill her with a hammer, Jan. 6 calls to murder Mike Pence, and attempts to kidnap and murder Gretchen Witmer—was that “we’re actually in a moment when the normalization of violence is part of the culture.”

A little over a year ago, I hosted an episode of Radio Atlantic and spoke with @anneapplebaum.bsky.social and @adriennelaf.bsky.social abt political violence in America. Trump’s assassination attempt was fresh; and followed by a chorus of “this isn’t who we are” www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/arc...

Here we go?

By escalating strikes in Ukraine and now Poland, Putin is sending a message: He is not interested in a ceasefire, or in peace. He plans to keep fighting. From @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/09/10/w...

"Since 2019, the global annual rate of democratic backsliding has quadrupled, new data show. At least 112 countries have lost some political freedom, and more than a third of these were not experiencing decline before the pandemic."

At least 19 Russian drones crossed into Polish air space last night. This was not an accidental breach or a mistake.

Polish and NATO jets scrambled, Warsaw airport closes after Ukrainian reports of Russian drones over Poland.

⚡️ 29 killed, 30 injured in Russian attacks on Ukraine over past day. Ukraine's Air Force said Russia launched 415 Shahed-type attack and decoy drones, 42 cruise missiles, and one Iskander-M ballistic missile overnight.

Since January 20, Russian air raids in Ukraine have intensified dramatically

"On August 29, the State Department leadership notified staff that it was terminating more than two dozen agreements...designed to create common language and tactics to push back against Russian, Chinese, Iranian, and terrorist influence campaigns overseas..." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

On MAGA International, from @davidfrum.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

"On August 29, the State Department leadership notified staff that it was terminating more than two dozen agreements...designed to create common language and tactics to push back against Russian, Chinese, Iranian, and terrorist influence campaigns overseas..." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Many media types and Dems continue to operate as if Trump is a politically invincible figure, a "Teflon Don." But in truth he's becoming an increasingly weak, failing, diminished, unpopular, naked-emperor figure, and it's time to treat him as such. 1/ (new piece) newrepublic.com/article/2000...