"The price of admission to Trump’s America is aggressive compliance, the sort demonstrated by more and more universities. Columbia and Williams College, for example, have been voluntarily flying flags at half-staff in honor of Kirk."

Former counselor to RFK Jr’s predecessor:

NEW: Documents reviewed by Bloomberg reveal Russia's plans to disrupt and undermine Moldova's elections: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

il trumpismo e' una forma di messianismo politico di cui nell'Europa secolarizzata (nella politica, nei media) si stenta a cogliere il significato, anche per il cattolicesimo globale

From our foremost theorist of free speech and academic freedom: "My country waits apprehensively to learn whether the pinnacle of its federal judiciary...will somehow remember its obligation to the rule of law...That this should even be a question illustrates how far and how fast we have fallen."

Ross Douthat: The Trump Administration Is Violating the First Amendment The Right Way

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It’s been sad this year watching how the White House press corps refuses to back each other up. Here a female journalist is insulted and denigrated and the next male reporter just moves on to a new question. You’re all in this together, folks. Time & again, they won’t stand up for their colleagues.

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.

Trump criticizes Pam Bondi for not charging his adversaries quickly enough, in a Truth Social post that looks a lot like a DM. truthsocial.com/@realDonaldT...

👇- obeying in advance does the work:

Litigation director @alexabdo.bsky.social equates the Kimmel suspension to what's known as jawboning. He adds: "It's as direct a line as you could dream up. [...] If the First Amendment was meant to prevent censorship, this is the prime example of it." More in @npr.org. www.npr.org/2025/09/18/n...

Protestors in the Soviet Union would sometimes simply write an article from the Soviet constitution on their posters.

He couldn't save himself by firing professors. The cultural revolution marches on. You won't escape it by cowardice. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/u...

Many of us are numb to it, but almost every day he publicly confesses that he is at war with our laws and Constitution.

Protestors in the Soviet Union would sometimes simply write an article from the Soviet constitution on their posters.

"...these aren’t...debates at all. They’re performances designed to generate...emotional reactions for viral distribution. Participants aren’t trying to...genuinely engage with opposing viewpoints. They’re trying to create moments that will get clipped, shared, and monetized across social media."

"I never imagined I would see fear spread so far and fast in the US." This from the writer who gave us definitive accounts of East Germany and other late state socialist societies in the 1980s.

You know things are rough when the AAUP's advice on how to use social media is just "set all your accounts to private."

By the head of the Federal Communications Commission, in 2022:

IMPORTANT PERSPECTIVE: What I have not seen anyone discussing is that Nexstar pulling Kimmel, forcing ABC’s hand, comes as Nexstar is leading the way for the industry on trying to get FCC approval for media consolidation. www.poynter.org/business-wor...

💥Navalny’s memorial at the Russian Embassy in Budapest keeps being destroyed overnight. An opposition politician reinstalled it for the 2nd time. The Russian Embassy now claims, absurdly, that its creators themselves vandalize it as a false-flag to push for a permanent monument.

No one normalizes the Trump administration’s authoritarianism like the New York Times.

As we’ve reported before at @rollingstone.com, trump and his gang plotted to use the federal government against his enemies in late night tv even before he was reelected. Now…. www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv...

Don't buy the canard that this is about Charlie Kirk. Abusing state power to lean on corporate leaders and get Jimmy Kimmel off the air because he told jokes about the president and made him feel bad was always the plan.

"I never imagined I would see fear spread so far and fast in the US." This from the writer who gave us definitive accounts of East Germany and other late state socialist societies in the 1980s.

👇Must-read:

"...these aren’t...debates at all. They’re performances designed to generate...emotional reactions for viral distribution. Participants aren’t trying to...genuinely engage with opposing viewpoints. They’re trying to create moments that will get clipped, shared, and monetized across social media."

“The Trump administration targeted Mahmoud Khalil as part of its broader effort to punish student protesters for engaging in lawful political speech,” says @georgewang.bsky.social. Read more about the amicus brief we just filed in the Khalil v. Trump case here: knightcolumbia.org/content/knig...

Again, very strange to have US leaders bragging about war crimes on TV — especially since Vance’s unfunny joke is basically “we base our air strikes on such sketchy intel that we can’t figure out who is a fisherman and who is a drug smuggler,” which does appear to be true, BTW.

Very telling example of ideological blindspots. Dylan Roof not part of the extended MAGA cinematic universe for reasons you can figure out for yourself.

Kharkiv citizens watch the sunset as russian drones fly over the city and the air raid alert wails. I can’t explain this to anyone who hasn’t lived here. Being so close to the frontlines, with no warning before the bombs fall, changes you. 1/3

NEW: Republicans who support limiting the number of students in the US from China 67% India 60% Nigeria 59% South Korea 54% Canada 47% www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...

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Hôtel du Lac, Tunis, is now being demolished r/brutalism

"Redford war wie ein ehemaliger Flügelstürmer, der als Coach vor allem Wert auf solide Verteidigung legt. Soeben ist er, neunundachtzigjährig, in Sundance, Utah, gestorben. So alt war er in seiner Doppelexistenz nie und wird er in unserer Erinnerung nie sein."

Isn't them going after hate speech the reason "the Europeans" have no free speech, according to the Vice President?

"Anti-Western."

Per Mariam Lau's latest book, Vance had initially planned to endorse the AfD in his Munich speech (but was eventually dissuaded).

What could go wrong under a new bill to take away passports from Americans who the Secretary of State claims support terrorism? Use our new action center tool to tell Congress to reject this unconstitutional passport bill.

Isn't them going after hate speech the reason "the Europeans" have no free speech, according to the Vice President?

Removing information about slavery at Harper’s Ferry is like removing information about hydroelectric power at the Hoover Dam. “John Brown went to Harper’s Ferry because he was so infected by the woke mind virus that he had a pathological hatred of states rights.”

"Anti-Western."

Per Mariam Lau's latest book, Vance had initially planned to endorse the AfD in his Munich speech (but was eventually dissuaded).

Ja, furchtbar.

Trump threatens to withhold federal funding from NY if NYC elects Mamdani. An impeachable offense for any other president in any other era. In this one it’s just another Monday.

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There is the intentional cruelty, and then there is the incidental cruelty.