I’ve ended up muting many pro-democracy YouTube feeds because of their sensationalist thumbnails and over-the-top declarations. The historically grounded, level-headed analyses of Prof. @hcrichardson.bsky.social help me keep my sanity—and see the points of leverage that ordinary people still have.

“We are finally seeing real pushback from Republicans.” @hcrichardson.bsky.social points to a few glimmers of hope at the end of the tunnel of Trump’s unfolding totalitarian project. Small victories today, moving us towards greater accountability and decency. I hope many more such days will follow.

Walz: "I saw an individual at the scene identify themselves as medical personnel and ask to provide aid, and an ICE agent said 'I do not care.' That lack of humanity was chilling to me."

Fox: "Have you interviewed the ICE agent involved in the shooting?" Rep. Seth Moulton: "No, but I've watched the video. Why are you so afraid to show the video to your viewers? You haven't shown it on your show. Why don't you just show it and let people use their own eyes?"

“We are finally seeing real pushback from Republicans.” @hcrichardson.bsky.social points to a few glimmers of hope at the end of the tunnel of Trump’s unfolding totalitarian project. Small victories today, moving us towards greater accountability and decency. I hope many more such days will follow.

I’ve ended up muting many pro-democracy YouTube feeds because of their sensationalist thumbnails and over-the-top declarations. The historically grounded, level-headed analyses of Prof. @hcrichardson.bsky.social help me keep my sanity—and see the points of leverage that ordinary people still have.

Raju: The Speaker and others have said that this driver was weaponizing her vehicle. AOC: Their editorializing of this event to justify a public murder is disgusting. It is horrifying. Watch it for yourself and make that assessment for yourself on which of these leaders are lying to you.

Inspiring example of a natural sponge city that is significantly increasing its resilience by humble means. Much can be learned here: long term vision meets sustained efforts.

Data centres consume enormous amounts of energy, can destabilise already under-maintained power grids, and contribute to rising electricity costs. At the same time, they create very few long-term local jobs once construction is completed. It’s encouraging to see communities defend their interests.

Inspiring example of a natural sponge city that is significantly increasing its resilience by humble means. Much can be learned here: long term vision meets sustained efforts.

NPR’s Jan. 6 archive brings together reporting, video, documents and testimony to show what really happened during the Capitol riot. Explore the timeline, cases and evidence behind the attack.

Short, eye-opening Sky News segment on the declining density of U.S. oil as a result of the shale revolution. Refineries in the South are specialised in processing heavy, dense crude; to keep running, they rely on constant imports—and the easiest sources they can tap are Canada & Venezuela.

Sleepwalkers! Alarmed by Trump’s rhetoric and radicalism, I followed his rise from 2015. As a German, I felt a dark déjà vu as he bullied rivals into silence and bent the media—an echo of Gleichschaltung in 1930s Germany, though more gradual. Meanwhile, Fox kept drumming out lies and propaganda.

Sleepwalkers! Alarmed by Trump’s rhetoric and radicalism, I followed his rise from 2015. As a German, I felt a dark déjà vu as he bullied rivals into silence and bent the media—an echo of Gleichschaltung in 1930s Germany, though more gradual. Meanwhile, Fox kept drumming out lies and propaganda.

Jan 6th rioter: “You can't gaslight me. I was there — I saw the officers being pepper sprayed. I watched one of them fall down & hit his head & his back — So don't be telling me it wasn't violent. Don't come to me with that ever again”

Joint European statement on Greenland. They moved quickly after Miller’s comments about annexation last night.

"From 1898 to roughly 1934, the U.S. military invaded, occupied, and in some cases outright colonized no fewer than 14 countries and territories in whole and in part, including Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua, Mexico, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic."

Reformed January 6th participant (who refused a pardon): “You can't gaslight me. I was there. I saw the officers being pepper sprayed. I watched one of them fall down and hit his head and his back. So don't be telling me it wasn't violent.”

Crockett: "Everyone wants to talk about how Maduro was illegitimate. As we sit here on January 6, I do want to be clear: somebody else was trying to be a Maduro of the United States. Somebody else wanted to do the exact same thing. The difference is Maduro was successful."

I would rather call it “shared governance” to make clear that the city is a #commons —shared and maintained by all, for the benefit of all, at least in theory. Semantics matter: it’s not an amorphous “mass,” but all citizens of NYC, who have a stake in the city; share both ideas & responsibilities.

Data centres consume enormous amounts of energy, can destabilise already under-maintained power grids, and contribute to rising electricity costs. At the same time, they create very few long-term local jobs once construction is completed. It’s encouraging to see communities defend their interests.

Until that day 5 years ago, this was indeed the case. Unfortunately, much has changed since then, and were it not for the lower courts, the rule of law might well have been fully eroded during the first year of Trump. If and how long the last safeguards will hold remains a deeply troubling question.

All Americans, and the entire world, must remember. Robert Reich: The most shameful day in American history open.substack.com/pub/robertre...

in how many "law enforcement operations" are damn near 100 people killed?

Looks really interesting: Learning from Japanese rural regeneration!

I would rather call it “shared governance” to make clear that the city is a #commons —shared and maintained by all, for the benefit of all, at least in theory. Semantics matter: it’s not an amorphous “mass,” but all citizens of NYC, who have a stake in the city; share both ideas & responsibilities.

One of the most lopsided results you'll ever see in a poll, from our weekend Washington Post poll www.washingtonpost.com/politics/int...

A reminder that the US killed 80 people in Venezuela, and it would be nice if the US media cared enough to think that the life of a grandmother in Caracas whose building is destroyed by a US bomb matters as much as the life of a person in the US.

Crooks, thugs and madmen run the United States.

Tomorrow is the 5th anniversary of the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol. I’m proud of the work we did on the House January 6th Committee. January 6th should’ve been the end of a political movement based on a cult of personality, conspiracism, extremism & lies. Instead, it is now in power.

Looks really interesting: Learning from Japanese rural regeneration!

Experts are stating the obvious: Trump’s intervention in Venezuela is all about oil. Even as shale production has surged in the U.S., refineries in the South are hard pressed to import heavy crude to keep running. And where does that crude come from? Canada—and Venezuela.

If you’re looking to update your cities content for 2026, there’s lots of great urbanists in this list!

The US is sanctioning judges among whose assignments is the legal reckoning with genocide. www.irishtimes.com/world/us/202...

With Trump, we see American imperialism with no clothes. Naked and vain. American imperialism is not just morally wrong. It is strategically disastrous. I wrote this essay in March 2025 when Vance visited Greenland, and it is unfortunately still too relevant. snyder.substack.com/p/vance-in-g...

For the few out there who still care about the rule of law and facts: an insightful conversation between @katiephang.bsky.social and @stevevladeck.bsky.social on international law, presidential immunity and critical differences between the Noriega and Maduro cases.

“Congress has been supine; uninvolved. We are being governed by whim and by decree. Mr. Trump has no clue about what he doing on page two in Venezuela. No good will come of this, the way it being conducted.” — 4 Star General Barry McCaffrey

Short, eye-opening Sky News segment on the declining density of U.S. oil as a result of the shale revolution. Refineries in the South are specialised in processing heavy, dense crude; to keep running, they rely on constant imports—and the easiest sources they can tap are Canada & Venezuela.

Experts are stating the obvious: Trump’s intervention in Venezuela is all about oil. Even as shale production has surged in the U.S., refineries in the South are hard pressed to import heavy crude to keep running. And where does that crude come from? Canada—and Venezuela.

For the few out there who still care about the rule of law and facts: an insightful conversation between @katiephang.bsky.social and @stevevladeck.bsky.social on international law, presidential immunity and critical differences between the Noriega and Maduro cases.

As cities around the globe scramble to face the unpredictable local impacts of runaway climate change and a growing polycrisis, the question is clear: how do we plan and build resilience? Here’s my take on the Resilience Project of the world’s biggest city, #Tokyo.

Across the African continent, informal markets are more than economic spaces; they are living systems of urban intelligence rooted in cultural continuity and adaptive efficiency fojournal.org/case-study/t...

Brilliant analysis by @saletan.bsky.social for @thebulwark.com. Even Trump’s own team can’t make sense of the Venezuela aggression. Rubio and the rest are just chasing the ramblings of an elderly, all-consuming Trump. He should be nowhere near the levers of power.

Sleepwalking into disaster! The Republican establishment and mainstream media are shrugging at the reckless words of an old man clearly unwell—someone who should never touch the levers of power. Remember the Daisy ad? Nixon used it to brand Goldwater a madman. We’re watching history repeat itself.

Why did Trump invade Venezuela Maybe because Jack Smith said things like this in his deposition: "why we felt we had such strong proof is all witnesses were..allies [of Trump]..We had an elector in Pennsylvania..who said that what they were trying to do was an attempt to overthrow the government"

I want to remind everyone that the US has sanctioned members of the International Criminal Court for going through a formal legal process to identify international leaders who engaged in war crimes, making them vulnerable to arrest.

Prof @hcrichardson.bsky.social on why the Venezuela operation marks a huge crisis for the United States and the whole world: “If you break all the internationally and nationally established rules to get rid of Maduro, you destroy the rules based world order and align the U.S. with Putin’s Russia.”

Brilliant analysis by @saletan.bsky.social for @thebulwark.com. Even Trump’s own team can’t make sense of the Venezuela aggression. Rubio and the rest are just chasing the ramblings of an elderly, all-consuming Trump. He should be nowhere near the levers of power.

I wrote about reporters’ refusal to use “act of war,” “invasion” or “coup” when covering Trump’s brazen attacks on Venezuela, instead echoing WH-approved euphemisms, and the broader trend of our press dutifully giving Trump’s lawlessness the vague whiff of international legitimacy when it has none.