Arto Sillanpää

Had a great big picture conversation last week with Rachel Nelson at @newlinesinst.bsky.social on antisemitism in the MAGA movement, what a principled anti-Zionism looks like, changing views on Israel/Palestine in the American Jewish community and more. Give it a listen! bit.ly/49IwVnr

Everything about this might be the saddest thing I’ve ever seen

DOGE was a failure if the goal was saving money. It was a huge success if the goal was giving a bunch of techbro adjacent people unfettered access to govt data in ways that, thus far, are evading the Privacy Act.

The Responsible Statecraft folks really like Trump's surrender plan for Ukraine and are really scared Europe might undermine it.

LIke this is blatantly dishonest:

"European leaders are offering public lip service to Trump’s efforts to end the war while maneuvering to sabotage any initiative that/

Brazilian police arrest Bolsonaro amid suspicions he was about to flee Politician reportedly taken from his villa into custody at a federal police base about 7 miles from presidential palace

"Brazil’s former far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, has been arrested at his villa in the capital, Brasília, amid suspicions he was poised to abscond to a foreign embassy to avoid going to prison for masterminding a military coup."

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...

Ought to be front-page headlines.

European political scientists are blue in the face from constantly pointing out that accommodating the far right does not help centre-left parties win, and contributes to the rise of far-right parties. There's a mountain of data to support that.

But no, the galaxy-brained strategists must be right.

it is almost as if accommodating and conceding to far right ideas legitimizes them and signals to voters that the far right is a legitimate choice for governance

Once He Was ‘Just Asking Questions.’ Now Tucker Carlson Is the Question.

More reporters covering the Carlson fallout should be asking themselves why Nick Fuentes, who reporters on this beat for a long time famously doesn’t talk to the people who cover him, is being downright chatty with them. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/u...

Michael Flynn, DOJ in Settlement Talks Over $50 Million Claim The Justice Department has been discussing settlements with two former officials from Donald Trump’s first term who — like the president — claim they’re owed major payouts from the US government as vi...

DOJ has been discussing settlements with Michael Flynn, who — like the president — claims he's owed major a payout from the US government as a victim of politically-motivated actions.
(Michael Flynn pleaded guilty.)
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

If only our society took major crimes by rich people as seriously as minor crimes by poor people. Ideally more seriously. But as seriously would be a big improvement.

in online corners like these I think people largely recognize how credulous, unprincipled opposition to "wokeness" functioned as lightly papered over defenses of impunity, but it's one of those drums people should probably start beating for normies

Something absolutely perfect about Larry Summers riffing about the scourge of woke cancel culture being unfair to predatory men in a friendly email to his pal JEFFREY EPSTEIN.

For all the leftist, liberal and moderate conservative schadenfreude over Trump's current predicament in the face of the Epstein files, a loss of control among the older generation of MAGA bosses opens up the Republican Party to a full hostile takeover by its Fuentes faction

”The current civil war on the right is happening in large part because of a power vacuum after the assassination of Charlie Kirk.” !!

The President pardoned members of his private militia after they failed to overturn an election; they, in turn, pledge their support to him and urge him to use them to police civil society.

Joyce Carol Oates @Joyce... 17h O So curious that such a wealthy man never posts anything that indicates that he enjoys or is even aware of what virtually everyone appreciates— scenes from nature, pet dog or cat, praise for a movie, music, a book (but doubt that he reads); pride in a friend's or relative's accomplishment; condolences for someone who has died; pleasure in sports, acclaim for a favorite team; references to history. In fact he seems totally uneducated, uncultured. The poorest persons on Twitter may have access to more beauty & meaning in life than the "most wealthy person in the world."

Elon Musk ' @elonmusk X.com Oates is a liar and delights in being mean. Not a good human.

lol she got his ass and he knows it

Venäjän ja Israelin toiminnan yhteneväisyydet ja Venäjän ja Israelin yhteistyö herättävät sosiaalisessa mediassa kysymyksiä. Muun muassa nyt palkitulta Timo R. Stewartilta on tivattu, miksi hän rinnastaa nämä maat.

En ole Israel-ekspertti, mutta itänaapurista tiedän jotain, joten teen tässä ketjun.

F.B.I. Director Is Said to Have Made a Pledge to Head of MI5, Then Broken It The episode has contributed to concerns among intelligence allies that Kash Patel, brash and partisan, is also unpredictable and even unreliable.

NYT - Kash Patel's inexperience, his dismissals of top FBI officials and his shift of resources from thwarting spies and terrorism have heightened concerns among the other Five Eyes nations that the bureau is adrift. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/wo...

Another pardoned January 6 attacker arrested and charged with other, new felonies (in this case, kidnapping and sexual assault).

And don’t miss the part where he got caught firing off a gun on Jan. 6. You may recall the argument that it couldn’t have been an insurrection because it wasn’t armed.

Trump called Biden “sleepy,” because Trump is an old man who struggles to stay awake.

Trump called Hillary “crooked,” because Trump is incredibly crooked.

Trump called Ted Cruz “lyin’” because Trump is a serial liar.

We’re a decade into this. How do people still not get it?

Don Moynihan on "Purge, Merge, and Surge" "Instead of surging in Iraq, it’s happening here in American cities."

“More and more cabinet members — Rubio, Miller, Noem — live on military bases now, & it's another parallel to Iraq, where the administration lived in the Green Zone. There’s something deeply unhealthy about a society where leaders are literally shut off from the communities that they govern.”

The prosecutors presented the plot as part of Operation Fox Hunt, a decade-long push that Chinese officials claim is aimed at repatriating fugitives. The Justice Department contended that the campaign was part of the Communist Party’s push to control Chinese nationals around the world.

Suomen vaalidata siirtyy Amazonin pilveen – USA:n vaalivilppiepäilyjä tutkinut asiantuntija varoittaa riskeistä Ensimmäistä kertaa vaaleissa ehdokas- ja äänestäjätiedot sekä tuloslaskenta siirtyvät Suomen rajojen ulkopuolelle. Tutkija ei käyttäisi pilvipalvelua kansallisen turvallisuuden asioissa.

Demokratian ei tulisi olla säästökohde. Kansalaisten on pystyttävä luottamaan siihen, että vaalidata on turvassa ja kukaan ulkopuolinen ei siihen pääse käsiksi tai sitä muuttamaan. Edes epäilyn siementä tällaisesta ei pidä kylvää.

The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.

One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc

RFK Jr's response to someone collapsing nearby him was to haul ass out of the room as quickly as possible

This really hasn’t gotten enough attention this week.

@wired.com #ICE
www.wired.com/story/fbi-wa...

ah, perhaps instead of pumping millions into endless factional infighting Dem donors could invest in making local Dem organizations genuine civic spaces that can reach people during and between elections

Shock as Orbán allies take ownership of Hungary’s most-read newspaper Blikk, a tabloid with about 3 million online monthly readers, bought by pro-Orbán media group Indamedia

Yksi aikamme isoista kysymyksistä on, miten yksityinen omistus ja demokraattinen julkinen tila sovitetaan yhteen. Olemme tottuneet ajattelemaan, että se on ongelmatonta ja että omistajat ovat valmiita tukemaan journalismin yleisiä hyveitä. Oliko tämä kuitenkin vain spesifi historiallinen periodi?

Dick Cheney did more than anyone else to build up expansive and destructive executive branch powers in the wake of 9/11; he lived to see another president turn those same powers against his own daughter.

He should be a warning sign to the GOP today but too many of them are in the cult.