one of the critical things here is that 90 percent of journalism has been destroyed, and the remaining 10 percent is what was once the top 10 percent, highly status-driven, highly opinion-driven, and intensely New York/DC centered. there's no ladder to come up as a journeyman left.

The CBS investigation portrays a modern concentration camp, similar to the Soviet GULAG (like CECOT, an acronym): sadistic guards, 24 hour lighting, isolation cells. Americans once opposed this inhumane system. The Trump administration sent innocent people there to suffer.

The Trump family has amassed a $4 billion fortune since his re-election. During my time as Ambassador, I was accused of "focusing too intensely on the issue of corruption." There's no such thing. We need leaders who serve the people — not themselves. www.wsj.com/politics/tru...

Unbelievable. This would be a terrible blow to American science, writ large. It would decimate not only climate research, but also the kind of weather, wildfire, and disaster research that has underpinned half a century of progress in prediction, early warning, and increased resilience.

I don't see Musk or Medvedev calling for the dissolution of the Commonwealth of Independent States or the end of Moscow's influence over post-Soviet republics in the name of sovereignty.

Take time to read Soyonbo Borjigin's personal essay on his career as a journalist in Inner Mongolia. Reads like a Murakami novel. Intimate and fluent in detailing the cultural, the political and everything else in the liminal. #mongolsky www.equator.org/articles/the...

A WSJ analysis of satellite images shows clear evidence of the Chinese military’s expanding footprint through a network of facilities that dot the Tibetan plateau.

“And, as it also turns out, much of the reality-based press is doing a poor job of even acknowledging that they have a role in saving democracy, much less doing anything about it.” @sulliview.bsky.social brings the receipts. open.substack.com/pub/margaret...

For decades, Tibetans built a capital in exile in Dharamshala, India, and sent their kids to a school founded by the Dalai Lama. That's now changing. n.pr/49BpuhB

the NYT decides on its narratives and really, really has a hard time adjusting coverage to reality. it was the biggest pusher of 'resistance is dead', reflecting the general desire among the US establishment for Trump to be a punitive force against their critics. #nokings doesn't fit its story

“Is it that the Chief Justice doesn’t accept that the Court is losing credibility on a daily basis; that he thinks the Court doesn’t need that credibility in order to fulfill its intended role in our constitutional system; or that he doesn’t care?” Me on John Roberts as his Court turns 20 today:

Good to see these concerns about environmental damage done by fireworks in #Tibet; better still to also see it about mega-dams like #YarlungTsangpo, mines, roads, and other infrastructure projects causing serious harms.

An @news.rte.ie investigation: How forced Uyghur labour could be woven into your wardrobe

At a major "anti-hate" conference a few years ago I was on a panel where I lightly suggested big tech companies were faking their concerns about hate/misinfo. It didn't go over too well. But let the record show that once again I was right. They only care about money. www.yahoo.com/news/article...

Instead of worrying that TikTok could carry Chinese government propaganda — which the Supreme Court declined to even consider — "people can now be concerned that TikTok could be a conduit for US government propaganda," EFF’s @davidgreene.bsky.social and @evacide.bsky.social said.

For anyone who might be unfamiliar, this is exactly the kind of narrative that authoritarian regimes use - looking at you Egypt - to suffocate the media. The idea that only the official account is acceptable, despite obvious falsehoods, bluster or obfuscation.

Vaclav Havel wrote about the importance of pointing out the law in a totalitarian society - it may not help in a situation where the government makes and enacts laws willy-nilly, but calling it out keeps the insanity of it all in the open for all to see.

UN experts urge China to stop interfering in the Dalai Lama’s succession & disclose the fate of the Panchen Lama, missing 30 yrs. State control of reincarnation + enforced disappearance violate #Tibetans’ rights & jus cogens norms of #internationallaw. 👉 spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBas...

This is what happens in authoritarian countries. Fear and cowardice leads to self-censorship. www.nytimes.com/athletic/660...

"Some believe there is a plan to privatize VOA. Others think the explanation is simpler. Some MAGA acolytes…simply don't believe that the U.S. should have any kind of soft power. Others like and admire Russian President Vladimir Putin's regime."

we gave people a magic device in their pockets with access to all the knowledge in the world and they used it to cook their brains with racist memes.

I've just travelled through Xunhua in Amdo where there was a revolt by Tibetans & Salar Muslims against the 1958 collectivisation policies. Red Army had grudges to settle after Long March stragglers were annihilated by locals in 1936 www.josephrock.net/2025/08/chap... @bennoweiner.bsky.social

🚨EXCLUSIVE: Federal judges tell NBC News the Supreme Court has got to do a better job of explaining emergency rulings, with frequent decisions in favor of Trump at least appearing to validate harsh criticism of the judiciary at a time of rising threats: www.nbcnews.com/politics/sup...

This was the inevitable result of the Supreme Court saying the President is allowed to break the law. The question is whether any subsequent president could decide that things like $5 billion in illicit gains while in office, or preying on underage girls, are subject to the same kind of strikes.

Aritra Banerjee on how China has weaponised technology to suppress faith, speech, and dissent on the Tibetan Plateau, cutting #Tibetans off from each other, their diaspora, and the wider world, causing a profound erosion of cultural identity www.tibetanreview.net/chinas-digit... #surveillance

India fears a planned Chinese dam in #Tibet will reduce water flows on a major river by up to 85% during the dry season, according to four sources and a government analysis seen by Reuters, prompting Delhi to fast-track plans for its own dam to mitigate the effects. www.reuters.com/sustainabili...

“China has effectively closed Tibet off to foreign journalists. Some journalists have resorted to traveling there undercover in order to hear directly from #Tibetans, as was the case for journalists working on the recent PBS documentary “Battle for Tibet” @savetibet.org savetibet.org/much-reduced...

Declaring a fake emergency as an excuse to deploy the military to police civilians is one of the most canonical examples of authoritarian takeovers. Overseas, people see clearly what Trump is doing. Here in America most people — especially those with power or influence — are in denial.

Literally everyone is responding to this with such naivete. It's not the pee tape (and never was). It's not Epstein. Putin has used Trump to destroy every aspect of the United States that he loathed: rule of law, free market, human rights.

Caroline Moorehead on the end of refugee resettlement in America www.nybooks.com/articles/202...

A federal judge is ordering Kari Lake and USAGM, by Aug. 13, to provide the court with a detailed plan for the Voice of America’s restructuring, the current employee count and how much VOA programming is actually being produced and what steps they've taken to inform Congress of their activities.

We found hacked data that revealed dozens of people on deportation flights to El Salvador are missing. 🔗 www.404media.co/flight-manif...

"སྟོང་ཉིད་སྙིང་རྗེ་ཟུང་དུ་འཇུག་པའི་ལམ། ། ཆེས་ཆེར་གསལ་མཛད་གངས་ཅན་བསྟན་འགྲོའི་མགོན། ། ཕྱག་ན་པདྨོ་བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ལ། ། གསོལ་བ་འདེབས་སོ་བཞེད་དོན་ལྷུན་གྲུབ་ཤོག །" #DalaiLama90 🙏🙏🙏

For those unfamiliar, Ellen Nakashima is also one of the best natsec/intelligence/cyber reporters in the world, and has been for decades, in no small part because of course she cultivates high level sources instead of relying on official agency press offices.

We will never know when X fully dies because it's comprised of unchecked fake accounts and obviously cooked engagement stats, but it's clear the reporters/politicians/influencers that are on that site and nowhere else are in fact in a bubble now. It's a pond in a broader ocean of influence now.

Among other things, he says, the Dalai Lama's message is indirect signalling to China. "..that's a signal to China that his legitimacy is based on consent and not on force", @robbiebarnett.bsky.social says: www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cq...

What’s the ideal age for the state to impose assimilation on minorities? In Tibet, it’s 4. Gift link to new long read from me and Niharika Mandhana Beijing's building of government-run preschools across Tibetan areas to reverse generations of opposition to party rule: www.wsj.com/world/china/...

Dear god, @princetonupress.bsky.social is even proud of the visit to Xinjiang, issuing a press note that gushes about newfound appreciation for "the incredible power of Uyghur poetry," nevermind poet Tahir Hamut Izgil literally wrote a book called WAITING TO BE ARRESTED AT NIGHT.

There was little expectation before today that any Republican on Capitol Hill would fight for continued funding for VOA in the next federal budget. With Trump’s pronouncement to his party’s lawmakers to “kill it,” the odds are now nil. open.substack.com/pub/newsguy/...

HFAC hearing into USAGM is underway. The defacto boss of the agency, Kari Lake, to testify. Chairman Mast is listing numerous unsubstantiated charges (see the #SaveVOA fact check) and calling the agency's actions "taxpayer funded self sabotage" and stating drastic action is needed.

NYT - Foreign policy experts say the Trump administration is not just losing its grip on the global megaphone with its destruction of the Voice of America and RFE/RL, but handing it off to its eager adversaries. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/24/b...

GOP: China is an authoritarian state because no one can second-guess Xi Jinping! Also GOP:

(AP) - Layoff notices were sent Friday to 639 employees of Voice of America and the U.S. agency that oversees it, effectively shutting down the outlet that has provided news to countries around the world since World War II. uk.news.yahoo.com/layoff-notic...

I just talked to @lessig.bsky.social about the new Trump cell phone company. He said this adds to a conflict-of-interest problem "more extreme than anything we’ve seen in the history of the United States government." “This is the sort of thing you’d see in a banana republic" wapo.st/3HH1zl4

This is what I wrote 10 years ago today about Donald Trump's first campaign announcement. www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix...

USAGM today urgently called back to work the staff of the Voice of America's Farsi language service. All had been on paid admin leave for the past three months with the rest of VOA's silenced journalists.

If that’s what they do to a US Senator with a question, imagine what they do to farm workers, day laborers, cooks, and the other nonviolent immigrants they are targeting in California and across the country. Or any American that dares to speak up. I will not stop fighting to demand accountability.

Francis Wade on the Myanmar civil war

NEW: The board of the Fulbright Program has just resigned after accusing Trump aides of political interference. They say a State Dept. office under Rubio and Darren Beattie has cancelled scholarships to nearly 200 US professors and researchers. Story: www.nytimes.com/2025/06/11/u...

This WSJ story about the decline in search traffic because of AI summaries is so grim. Every single outlet spent 15+ years contorting their coverage to cover the same things as everyone else trying to grab SEO, only for Google to rugpull them, just like social networks did. tinyurl.com/bdpzc399