John Emerson

Douthat argues that a party should respond to electoral defeat by moving closer to the center and by default the other party's line.

But this is famously not what the GOP did in ... 2024. Or in 2016.

Nor did Reagan moderate the GOP platform in 1980.

And FDR did nothing of the kind in 1932.

It’s a tricky balance — we want to call stuff out and mock it! Rightfully so. But propaganda is easy and effortless and designed to be something that bypasses rational parts of our brains and lodge itself in there. So there’s a risk sharing it outright.

My perhaps controversial assessment is that when you share the propaganda of your enemies to call it out or to mock it… you’re still spreading their propaganda and maybe doing exactly what they hope you’ll do.

New York Times editorial board has compiled "a list of 12 markers of democratic erosion." www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

This is what "not the odds, but the stakes" was all about.

During the 2024 campaign, those 12 markers could have been in place and operating to guide news coverage everywhere.

Illustration of hands sewing with red thread, surrounded by pink and purple flowers, with a quote by David Graeber: "The ultimate, hidden truth of the world, is that it is something that we make and could just as easily make differently.

"The ultimate, hidden truth of the world, is that it is something that we make, and could just as easily make differently." —David Graeber

Art by Kate DeCiccio (Imagination Card - www.interruptingcriminalization.com/resources-al...)

This is a piece of the Mamdani campaign that I think is really underdiscussed—that in a moment of terror and despair, his premise is that standing up against fascism can be joyous.

As of October 28, the known death toll from lethal U.S. strikes on civilian vessels is 57. Notification Date Number Reported Killed Approximate Location Notification URL September 2, 2025 11 “in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility” (later revealed as between Sucre, Venezuela, and Trinidad and Tobago) View September 15, 2025 3 “in International Waters… in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility”; Colombian president claimed it was a fishing boat in Colombian waters View September 19, 2025 3 “in international waters… in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility” near the Dominican Republic View October 3, 2025 4 “in international waters just off the coast of Venezuela” View October 14, 2025 6 “in International Waters… just off the Coast of Venezuela” View October 16, 2025 2; 2 reported survivors “in the Caribbean” View October 17, 2025 3 “in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility” View October 21, 2025 2 “in the Eastern Pacific” View October 22, 2025 3 “in the Eastern Pacific” View October 23, 2025 6 “in the Caribbean Sea” View October 27, 2025 8 * “in the Eastern Pacific” View October 27, 2025 4 * “in the Eastern Pacific” View October 27, 2025 3 * “in the Eastern Pacific” View * One individual survived these three attacks; the U.S. government has not reported which of the three attacks included the survivor.

57 now dead in 13 attacks.

Fact sheet now updated at www.wola.org/analysis/fac...

Python Software Foundation withdraws bid for $1.5m grant from US gov, because the terms require they do not "operate any programs that advance or promote DEI", and "it would be a betrayal of our mission and our community." Applause. pyfound.blogspot.com/2025/10/NSF-...

What is even more amazing is how he got his "data"--crowd sourced from letters he sent to ~200 people. "Tell me when this arrives"

At the food pantry I volunteer at we were absolutely swamped today and by many first timers. We ran out of whole categories of food. Please donate cash to your local organization if you at all can.

Sunday Times book critic declares the “best defence against fascists is laughing at them”, thereby sidestepping historical reality as expressed by Peter Cook, who recalled:

“those wonderful Berlin cabarets which did so much to stop the rise of Hitler & prevent the outbreak of the Second World War”.

a photograph of the interior of a church. Several people are visible sitting in pews. In the pew immediately in front of the photographer, a black human-sized cardboard cutout in the outline of a woman is visible, as though a shadow is sitting in the pew in front of you.

Went to a prayer service tonight at St. Mary of the Lake, where they have cardboard cutouts throughout the church representing parishioners afraid to come to Mass because of ICE.

Offset Marketplace is a new project in collaboration with @tega.bsky.social. We calculate the carbon savings of industrial sabotage, package these savings into carbon credits, and sell them as certificates. Profits are then donated back to the activists responsible for the actions. offset.labr.io

Federal Action Reporting Form Federal Action Reporting Form Please use this form to share information regarding federal government action in New York state. Filing a complaint does not start

BREAKING: Letitia James has announced a Government portal for Videos and images of ICE Agents who may have committed crimes.

Please Use it and SHARE!

ag.ny.gov/federal-acti...

Close up photo of two hands each holding a cylindrical whistle. One whistle has a key-chain tag attached showing an illustrated owl that reads "Chicago Public Library"

How plastic whistles are becoming an anti-ICE resistance tool in Chicago www.reuters.com/world/us/how...

And this isn't meant to be an ad. I think there's sometimes a tendency, at least among journalists working with satellite imagery, to immediately go for the highest resolution possible. But there's an awful lot of stories inside those daily 3.5m multispectral collects.

When books were being pulled from Iowa classrooms, these teens started an after-school club to read them Three Iowa City West high schoolers founded a book club that reads some of the country's most frequently banned books after a state law removing books with sexual content was signed in 2023. Two years later, many of the books have been reshelved and parts of the law can't be enforced.

Three high schoolers founded a book club that reads some of the country's most frequently banned books after a state law removing books with sexual content was signed in 2023. Two years later, many of the books have been reshelved and parts of the law can't be enforced.

Number of homeless students in NYC hits record high, new report finds A schoolbus waits on New York City street Nearly 1 in 7 NYC public school students were homeless at some point last year. [ more › ]

Number of homeless students in NYC hits record high, new report finds https://gothamist.com/news/number-of-homeless-students-in-nyc-hits-record-high-new-report-finds

Could I just brag about my colleagues for a little bit? In July, librarians at at the University of Minnesota launched Save Our Signs, an effort to preserve interpretive signs at our national parks. So far, they have collected 8,070 images of signs (4 of them my own) from 319 sites!!!

The deal would give Bukele possession of individuals who threatened to expose the alleged deals his government made with MS-13 to help achieve El Salvador's historic drop in violence, officials said. For the Salvadoran president, a return of the informants was viewed as critical to preserving his tough-on-crime reputation. It was also a key step in hindering an ongoing U.S. investigation into his government's relationship with MS-13, a gang famous for displays of excessive violence in the United States and elsewhere.

They buried the lede. Here’s paragraph 6: https://wapo.st/4nbNiM4

A dinosaur talking with an NPR producer.

Proud papa moment: my son J published a letter in the @nytimes.com today (in print tomorrow) on the need to think our definitions of autism.

Scenes from today’s violent “No Kings” protest in Tucson, AZ #nokings #tucson #arizona #protest #fdt #funny

Times Square

Two men in a car driving toward a giant metal man-shaped robot. DRIVER: “Yow! It’s one of them Roberts, or whatever you call it!” PASSENGER: “Robot, you fathead! Step on the gas, stupid!”

Modern Life

It’s time to change the way the media reports on protests. Here are some ideas. "People kept sharing these videos that were coming up and it was unambiguous what was going on. We weren't looking at a stream of videos of violence erupting or clashes breaking out. We were looking a...

As we go into No Kings weekend (and with the influx of new followers from x) seems like a good time to resurface this.

It was written in 2020 then focused on George Floyd about the media's antagonistic relationship to protest

I feel like Ben Gvir personally being in the room when Greta Thunberg was being tortured should be bigger news

So far in 2025 the U.S. has lost a total of 33,000 manufacturing jobs.

The people behind the inflated protests are performing a monumental service to democracy & peace in the US. The Regime wants riots, but these animal characters are not only an effective protest, grabbing attention & mocking ICE, they seem to reduce the risk of violent protests. It's perfect.

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