Ed Schatz

Holding Two Truths, Episode 1

True that Trump gets much credit for the ceasefire and also true that he cares more about credit than about lasting peace.

Clowns, dangerous clowns

So glad the Nobel goes to someone fighting for democracy, not against it.

Thanks! What's the book?

Thank God. For a second there I thought they were going after James Comey.

almost like he forsaw social media...

“One morning (and it will be soon), when everyone wakes up as a writer, the age of universal deafness and incomprehension will have arrived.”

― Milan Kundera, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting

Teehee

Political ethnography alert! 🚨

Fabulous article by @professorbiko.bsky.social and Tali Mendelberg in @poppublicsphere.bsky.social showing that MAGA is as much about 'reclaiming lost status' as it is about culture wars or policy preferences.

Trump Administration Live Updates: President Predicts More Indictments and Claims It’s Not Revenge

The Times Claims It’s Not Amplifying Trump’s Nonsense

www.nytimes.com/live/2025/09...

The Fate of Regional Studies under Patrimonial Rule | Association for Slavic, East European, & Eurasian Studies This crisis is qualitatively different from any we have faced as scholars since the invention of modern area studies associations in the aftermath of World War II...

In a brilliant essay, Steve Hansen argues that neopatrimonial rule is on the march, but its success is not foreordained . aseees.org/newsnet-arti...

On top of it all, he’s deeply weird.

In an Era of Deep Polarization, Unity Is Not Trump’s Mission

BREAKING er “NEWS” from the NYT

“In an Era of Deep Polarization, Unity Is Not Trump’s Mission” www.nytimes.com/2025/09/14/u...

Facts Will not Save You AI, history, and Soviet sci-fi

@seva.bsky.social is on fire open.substack.com/pub/hegemon/...

Interesting piece, though huh? “When Moscow offered its 14 socialist republics independence in 1991…” edition.cnn.com/2025/07/31/t...

Democrats Clash on Senate Floor Over Policing Bills and How to Take On Trump

Democrats squabbling belongs on p. A24, not above the fold. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/29/u...

Thoughts and prayers

I admit that I have said negative things about Kash Patel.

The 'Trump has seen the light on Ukraine' folks are wise to remember that he has no convictions and can swing back wildly at any moment.

a close up of a statue of yoda from star wars holding a sword . ALT: a close up of a statue of yoda from star wars holding a sword .

Not winning hearts and minds you are.

Oh so this is what happens when there’s no global police.

Restored sculpture of Stalin unveiled in Moscow metro station — Meduza A sculpture of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin has been unveiled in a passageway at the Taganskaya Metro Station in Moscow, architecture researcher Alexander Zinoviev reported on Thursday.

re-Stalinization

meduza.io/en/news/2025...

This is insane.

Seems about right

Short lived, but great game wow

Before Trump: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity" (Hanlon's razor)

Now: It's malice all the way down.

JD Vance’s statement: « Now, of course, that means the Ukrainians and the Russians are both going to have to give up some of the territory they currently own» is in astonishing bad faith. He isn’t talking about Ru giving up ANY of its territory…

‘Slippery slope towards authoritarian-like rule’: Mahmoud Khalil’s lawyer responds to Marco Rubio’s memo | CNN Politics A Louisiana immigration judge is set to decide Friday whether to release Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil one month after he was arrested by federal agents followin...

It's not a slippery slope, it's a vertigo-inducing free-fall that goes further, faster than any Orban or Erdogan could orchestrate. Even Putin in the early 2000's took *years* to dismantle Russia's weak democratic institutions.

www.cnn.com/2025/04/11/p...

Is anyone else old enough to remember the WTO?

In a world of bad metahors about democratic backsliding, don't be a boiling frog.