J. Sam Drolet

I liked this formulation: bsky.app/profile/did:...

England, for example, went back and forth between "chaotic failed state riven by civil war" and "model of prosperity and stability" like five or six times between 1066 and 1700. And France was the same way, just on a more or less opposite periodicity.

One thing that's interesting about reading Medieval and Early Modern European history is how the trajectory of each country is constantly changing in unpredictable ways.

He was just willing to work within constitutional constraints to achieve his larger geopolitical goals in a way that James wasn't. And that was what made the difference.

The point being, consistent with Josh's original post, that William was far from a principled supporter of English constitutional rights and was actually not all that far from James in his own views of executive power.

Trump is indeed very specifically reminiscent of the Stuarts, particularly the dumber ones (Charles I and James II), both of whom did this exact thing of trying to spend money without appropriation by Parliament.

And of course he was married to James's daughter and all.

A few years earlier he had even assisted James in putting down the rebellion of the Duke of Monmouth!

Also ironic is that while the Dutch were well ahead of the English (and everyone else) in developing representative governing institutions inching toward democracy, William himself represented the forces in Dutch society *opposed* to that tendency. (As of course he did, being a hereditary monarch.)

Yes, it genuinely was both a foreign invasion *and* a homegrown revolution with massive popular support. Wild stuff.

The funniest part of the alliances in this war is that while James II was allied with France and trying aggressively to bring England back to Catholicism, William's alliance against them included not just all the other Protestant powers but several Catholic ones, including the Pope himself(!).

The state is not a personal slush fund for the monarch, but Trump is absolutely determined to use the tools of the 21st century along with the economics of the 19th to rule like it's the 17th century

I really respect Jeff Landfield coming out with his explicit opposition to the PFD. This is a principled conservative stance, and seeing a prominent influencer express it should help clarify the stakes involved for the Alaskan public as a whole.

Yep.

(Somewhat famously a hotbed of antisemitism as well, of course, but there's no real contradiction there.)

That should be the absolute rock-solid base of American Christian Zionism.

Yeah, if they're at the point where they feel compelled to do targeted marketing to Evangelical churches in Colorado Springs, of all places, that's a *very* significant sign of how secure they feel.

The Anti-Slough.

Fascinating article that implicitly posits that the most friendly country for Jews historically has, for at least the past millennium or two, been India.

www.jstor.org/stable/1464969

And, to be clear, this isn't new. I'm 41 years into life as an American Jew and every single one has required protection from the police just to practice my religion as is my right as a citizen. I appreciate it very much but it's tiring, man.

Which isn't to say they're unreachable! But, I mean, you spend enough time walking past police cars to attend religious services, as I did earlier this week, and you develop a certain attitude toward your fellow citizens.

Well, not to go all Goldhagen on you, but it doesn't necessarily take a lot to tip from consumerism into fascism. "Treatler" is a thing for a reason.

I don't think the "treatler" concept was ever intended to mean "literally equivalent to Hitler" but I'm open to correction.

Depends how narrowly you define "treatlers," I guess.

There are various snakes that might work, but that's the spider that overwhelmingly fills this role in North America.

Black widow.

Maybe in the long run. But we'll see.

Not a lot of winners there!

I try very hard to avoid self-pity, despite my ancestry being primarily Irish, Jewish, and Quebecois.

"No treats, only Trump!" Yeah, good luck with that.