honestly wild that I, a citizen of the United States, do not know if we have conquered Venezuela or not, and I have no confidence that the print or broadcast media are capable of telling me the answer

Maybe that was the point? A step so far out that it gives permission to consolidate specific geo powers

I wish I could believe that even this admin couldn't be this dumb Fiona Hill's testimony during Trump's 2019 impeachment hearing: “the Russians at this particular juncture were signaling very strongly that they wanted to somehow make some very strange swap arrangement between Venezuela and Ukraine"

Venezuela may seem like a tactical loss for Russia, but in fact it's a strategic win for Putin's vision of the world. new essay: hegemon.substack.com/p/venezuela-...

The USSR invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968, kidnapping the country’s leaders. In 1956, the Soviet Union invaded Hungary and had its leader executed. Of course, the Soviet Union was not a democracy, but a single party regime ruled by elderly hypocrites.

if anyone wants my novel about an abusive, incestuous 16th century family of minor nobility set in an alt-historical semi-pagan version of england hmu. it's kind of hilary mantel meets david lynch. and also gay so there's the heated rivalry angle now.

Huge congratulations to our wonderful @lsegovernment.bsky.social colleague Professor Tony Travers who has been appointed a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the New Year Honours list for 2026 🎉

Time is of the essence! We in the Government Department at the LSE are hiring and the deadline is January 4th. Come join us!

a lot of what is in the epstein files was known in 2016. and yet our journalistic class treated it like a nothing burger leading to many of us believing it was something that belonged in conspiracy rags. compare that to the "but her emails" hysteria. it's a tragedy.

Really impressive how much Vance is emulating Putin’s rise to power. Including following a bumbling Yeltsin and playing to the egos of oligarchs.

At this point there must be a dedicated “Weiss package” within ChatGPT.

Just in time for Christmas: a great interview with an absolute legend. Theda Skocpol and Edwin Amenta on her career, US politics, the erosion of democracy, and most of all, what to do about it. sociologica.unibo.it/article/view...

watching my favorite christmas movie and what is possibly the great american comedy about class and race

My best faith, read between the lines, interpretation of this piece is that the oil & gas industry is a malignant anti-democratic force right now both in the U.S. & across the world because it can see a “no oil” future. So we need to find a way to convince this industry to back democrats again.

Just say women. This is taking forever.

This entire weekend

related to this a lot of people in the pundit class need to learn how to just be annoyed by someone or something without turning it into What’s Wrong With America

The best explanation I saw of this on this website is that they are trying to cut the U.S. off from the rest of the world- from postal mail, to trade to visitors. Building a caste system through autarky vibe.

New out today

Calibri or nothing is my view

!!!!!!!!!

They definitely made a show about this already: Murder at the end of the world.

This is a London attempt to trap unwary New Yorkers

Just block people you don't like and post more substantive stuff/less meta commentary

New paper in @ajpseditor.bsky.social. Is descriptive representation good for substantive representation? Why do voters stay loyal to corrupt and poorly governing ethnic parties? I argue that we ought to focus less on patronage and more on dignity concerns. Defiant pride can come at a price. 1/🧵

"'Low estimate is 60,000 people have been killed there in the last three weeks.’” As many as 150,000 residents of El Fasher remain unaccounted for Why, might be appropriate for our leaders, intellectuals, and activists who profess to care about our shared humanity to actually do or say something

“A cultural challenge”

Still incredible that we did less than nothing & allowed the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch perpetrators to escape all consequences & seize political control of the government in three years instead of ten. A total failure of every societal & political institution & elected official in 🇺🇸. A national shanda.

I genuinely think this (from: sootyempiric.blogspot.com/2025/08/woke...) is going to be lots of people's unironic take on these years. I do think Woke 2 will be a thing, and I don't think this was inevitable but rather the result of very bad strategic choices being made by the right and centrists.

“With Friday's lawsuit, Costco becomes the latest major company to seek tariff refunds through the courts.” Shocking that there aren’t hundreds more. America’s “fiercely” capitalist ethos proving to be more disappointing than American democracy.

I am reeling from the difference between how political parties, voters and the press reacted to the election commission of India’s handling of voter rolls in state elections versus this. What’s happening in the U.S. is truly jarring

Maybe an idea for states with small proportions of Black voters, but does a new labour focused party in red states have space for the millions of working-class Black voters who are the democratic party’s base in these places? There is a reason a labour movement failed to take root in the South.

Rightly lots of debates about growth this weekend - rightly because it was low productivity growth that saw wages entirely flatline during the 2010s.

not to forget that revenue from this tax would have been earmarked for climate-related spending. young socialists proposing to finance climate policy through redistribution from super wealthy? in Switzerland?! 🙅🙅🙅

Truly a an insightful read on the politics of policy making, the tussle between agencies as well as factions within a party. Importantly a review of the paths not taken and missed opportunities. Britain is still waiting for a braver political class. It’s not lacking in ideas, just courage.

Huh what nation in Lincoln’s time had 11 states

It’s really funny how a generation will roll its eyes at parents who watch Fox News but doesn’t see why being immersed in Twitter is having the same effect. Lots of serious people show up on Fox News too but that shouldn’t be your primary source on the news.

Good morning to Brazilian reporter Manuela Borges, who’s been waiting eleven years for this petty moment. ❤️ 🇧🇷

Britain’s elites seem to be totally hapless in the face of Trumpism.

Great day to look at these quotes and also check out the role of women voters in the recent elections in the state of Bihar, one of the less developed Indian states. Who knew women could be their own agents?!

Very good piece by @brendannyhan.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/o...

Have to agree with this. Found the writing to be meh even though the film was fun. However, the unambiguously good thing to come out of Rogue One was this cool op-ed by @separkinson.bsky.social!

At this rate, we are going to get a pretty robust presidential pair in Kelly-Warnock without the Democrats making any institutional efforts at all.

🚨 LSE Assistant Professor in Political Science 🚨 We’re hiring a tenure-track assistant professor - any area of empirical political science - to join our wonderful Government Dept @lsegovernment.bsky.social Any questions, please reach out to me 📣 Please share! 📣 jobs.lse.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/...

We are hiring! Please share widely!

One way to understand this is that a lot of journos have made their careers betting on the reactionary far-right, hoping it will lead to them taking over institutions. That strategy failing has huge consequences for their futures and their jobs.

Take note Starmer and co

Men having a normal one on the other site.

Escape room where the thing you are trying to escape is reading about Olivia Nuzzi