Hurry! Our spots are starting to fill.

If anyone wants to learn more about Cold War espionage with a true expert, this is the trip for you. Berlin - Leipzig - Prague - Vienna. Led by @johnsipher.bsky.social and brought to you by Tradecraft Travel in conjunction with Kensington Tours.

good thing Binnington returned the puck before he was pulled

Spanberger's triumph in Virginia is a victory that could reshape the state’s political landscape. Her strong backing for constitutional amendments on redistricting and restoring voting rights sets the stage for major pro-democracy reforms. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

So proud of my former colleague, a superb choice for the Commonwealth!

The U.S. is “on a trajectory” toward authoritarian rule, according to a sobering new intelligence-style assessment by former US intelligence and national security officials, who warn democratic backsliding may soon become entrenched without organized resistance. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

The Steady State’s assessment warns that the U.S. is moving toward competitive authoritarianism: elections and institutions remain, but are manipulated to entrench executive power. Without resistance from institutions and the public, democratic erosion will continue to accelerate.

Accelerating Authoritarian Dynamics: Assessment of Democratic Decline. Key Findings

When presidents call movements “terrorist orgs” without legal basis, they aren’t fighting terror—they’re building authoritarian “security services” to crush critics. That’s what Trump is signaling with “Antifa.” Read our letter to SSCI and HPSCI here. open.substack.com/pub/steadyst...

Great reporting; astounding corruption. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/15/u...

If he'd been radicalized by a leftist professor the bullet engravings would have been an unreadable 90,000 word rebuttal to another leftist academic over a purely semantic disagreement they've been arguing back and forth since the 70's and he'd have shot Reviewer 2.

This new Battlefield 6 BETA--National Guard in DC--looks incredible. I'm not sure which missions are hardest--dodging scooters along the Tidal Basin, getting a table at Ben's Chili Bowl, or trying to parallel park a Hummer in Georgetown.

1. Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Patel want everyone to think the so-called Steele Dossier was a major source for the 2017 intelligence assessment on Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. No, it wasn’t — an assessment of the “dossier” was included as an annex, which they haven’t released. Why?

gather round children and come hear the tale, of when horkos stepped beyond the pale. when the purple man, all a-fright, confronted the HPSCI memo with no delight 🧵 read along if you dare www.odni.gov/files/ODNI/d...

I asked some questions of the ODNI about Friday's release of emails and accusations of a treasonous conspiracy related to 2016-2017 intel community assessments of Russian election meddling. As I didn't get answers, I'll just discuss here what I raised in my questions. 🧵

Anyone with serious interest in Russia’s attempts to influence the US election in 2016 should read the exhaustive 2020 report by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. www.intelligence.senate.gov/2020/08/18/p...

THREAD:: A few things about this screed. 1. Trump was not “framed” by the Dossier because the Dossier wasn’t used to open the Russia probe. Crossfire Hurricane was opened when Alex Downer from Australia told us that Popadopalous drunk-blabbed about Russia in a London Pub months earlier. 1/

🧵In 2018 the Senate Intelligence Committee asked me to field a team and analyze a data set that social media platforms had turned over: several hundred gigs of data chronicling a multi-year effort to divide American society *and* interfere in an American election www.lawfaremedia.org/article/retc...

Something I've been thinking about with regard to the battle damage assessment issue with the Iranian nuclear sites. There is an underlying physical reality here. The US Intelligence Community doesn't know what it is, though it probably knows parts. In any event, however, 1/2

🚨 NEW PAPER on the 0day Supply Chain 🚨: I gathered open source data & interviewed Gov employees, VR and china researchers to figure out what the zero day marketplace looks like in the U.S. and how it compares to China. key findings below ⬇️- 0/🧵 
www.atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-res...

Military cyber units acting like they contribute meaningful input to kinetic operations besides “intelligence collection with computer noise and some spooky ghost sounds” is a phenomenon you can find in the US as easily as you can find it in Russia. Everyone wants to demonstrate value on the big day

There is no “one and done” in any conflict. The opponent always gets a vote, and unless we’ve prepped for all the things Iran may do we’re gonna have some surprises.

Is anyone tracking Kyle Rittenhouse's location?

We put tariffs on an uninhabited island full of penguins but not Russia. Very normal administration we have here.

You'd think Musk and Space X would avoid yet again dumping propellants and metal into the Gulf of "America."

Missed opportunity…

OTD in 1992 the Transnistra War kicked off. "Pro Russian" forces were forced to have a ceasefire to stop NATO continuing its move eastward that hadn't started yet. We've occupied a part of Moldova ever since. Your inaction was noted..

🧵 Yesterday I shared my views on how disordered discourse has captured the US state and the risk of that happening elsewhere, but I don’t want to leave you hanging without proposing a solution.

REPOST if you support our federal workforce and know how dedicated they are to their jobs. Show them you appreciate them!

THE CHIEFS CAN STILL WIN IF MIKE PENCE HAS THE COURAGE

Hey @washingtonpost.com you say your new Kash Patel story has "not previously been reported." Wrong, we at @motherjones.com scooped you and had this out earlier today. www.motherjones.com/politics/202... Feel free to correct.

The cheapest way to win a war is to convince your enemy to fight each other: "German investigators believe that a wave of car vandalism across Germany, initially blamed on radical climate activists, is actually part of a Russian-orchestrated sabotage campaign" www.politico.eu/article/germ...

POTUS will rename DC the District of America after this.

Anyone an expert in coffee futures and prices, that could comment on the impact of a 25 PCT tariff on Columbia on the price of coffee for American consumers ?

Whether someone holds a clearance should be a function of their loyalty to the Constitution, which those cleared are sworn to protect, not their allegiance to any party or person.

Run some more trick plays, Ben Johnson. #HTTC

And so it begins - Bxl orders X to hand over documents on algorithm As one senior EU official told me in Bxl this week, the EU's regulatory instruments are there precisely to protect free speech, not hinder it, as Musk and Zuck claim The EU's narrative pushback begins www.ft.com/content/a6dc...

Fed up with Meta? Avoiding Instagram or Facebook isn’t enough to stop Meta from harvesting and profiting from your private information. Here’s how to limit Meta’s ability to monetize your personal data.

Interactive piece on proportional representation in the NYT today 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Between the AI garbage filling your feed and this I don't understand why anyone would still use Facebook

Users are reporting problems with Hulu. Is Hulu down for you? RT if you are having issues. #huludown

If you missed it - start your new year with this excellent @wsj.com description of the Russian sleeper agents unmasked last year www.wsj.com/world/europe...

After 24 years America is still doing the Islam v West thing and falling for the lazy stereotypes and hot takes of racists who want wars they'll never fight in. (Yawn.) Once you incels are done cosplaying as Alpha Crusaders, join the rest of us who aren't self destructive and ridiculous.

MAN DOWN

RIP President Carter. Thank you for setting an example of principled public service.

President Jimmy Carter leaves a legacy unlike any other. Ceaseless in his service, unbending in his dignity, and revered for his commitment to our common humanity. He fought the good fight and kept the faith — and now he has finished his race. May his memory be an inspiration.

A very, very good piece.