Mark Stout

illinois gov. JB pritzker responds to ken paxton's threat to arrest TX democrats who fled the state: "they're here in illinois. we're going to do everything we can to protect every single one of them."

A Giant in the Field of Civil War Military History Has Passed Yesterday I received word that historian Eric Wittenberg passed away after a long illness.

A Giant in the Field of Civil War Military History Has Passed
open.substack.com/pub/kevinmle...

New job:

Assistant Professor of History

Smith College

jobs.h-net.org/jobs/68916

World chess just placed restrictions on both trans women and trans men The International Chess Federation will stop allowing transgender women to participate in women's tournaments. The group said changing genders has a "significant impact" on a player's status.

All you need to know about transphobes/terfs/gender critical people is that they think trans people have an unfair advantage in chess.

Harvard “is seriously considering resolving its dispute with the White House through the courts rather than a negotiated settlement.”

The university president said “the suggestion that Harvard was open to paying $500 million is ‘false’”

www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

Project USEFUL.

PBS: Public Broadcasting Service Watch full episodes of your favorite PBS dramas, find in-depth news analysis and explore documentaries on history, science, art and more!

For $5/month or $60/yr you get access to PBS Passport and the entire Masterpiece library plus Great Performances, etc. Defunded but not defeated. www.pbs.org/passport/lea...

Texas Dems to flee state amid national redistricting battle They will head to Illinois, where Gov. JB Pritzker has expressed sympathy for their plight.

BIG NEWS: Texas Dems plan to flee to Chicago today in order to disrupt redistricting attempts, according to Politico.

Greeneries and their reflections in the river

Durham Cathedral

Durham Cathedral by the river

Aquaduct and its reflection in the river

Several shots of the river by the Durham Cathedral this evening. The city centre is quieter in the summer.
#DurhamUK #DurhamCathedral

Cold War Conversations: Guarding Rudolf Hess, Hitler's Deputy Führer (262) Dave Phillips is a Yeoman Warder at the Tower of London. The Yeoman Warders have been guarding the Tower since Tudor times. Dave joined the British Army aged 16 into the Royal Irish Rangers. We he...

From the archive. pod.fo/e/150903

Economist Amartya Sen won a Nobel in part for asking: Why did India avoid the mass famines that killed tens of millions in China? His answer: a free press. Journalists could expose suffering and shame governments into action. Silence and avoidance, by contrast, can be deadly.

Seizing the Opportunity to Enhance Intelligence-Policy Relations - ICDS The unusual geopolitical moment created by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and, now, by the shift in official US policy and tone present enormous challenges for Europe’s political leaders, nat...

"Without healthy cultures of intelligence-policy relations to inform their efforts, European policymakers risk getting less from their historic defence spending increase than they now hope," writes David Priess of the @haydencenter.bsky.social.

@davidpriess.bsky.social
#LennartMeriConference

AAAHHHHHHHHHHH

22. A lot of the 20th century General Officers we study taught at staff colleges for years, ran their PMEs, or ran large field maneuvers. Bottom line: they worked multiple years in education and training.

This is not the case today. I don’t know why. Maybe that should be my dissertation…

👀 "leaders said they were hoping the multimillion-dollar settlement would buy them time.

“It backfired,” said one senior administrator at UCLA, reflecting the sense of whiplash felt among many who were interviewed. “Within hours of announcing our settlement, the DOJ was on our back.”"

Our latest giveaways Listen to the author interview hereBuy the book here To enter the draw to win a free copy of the book, you will need to do at least one of the following before 2300 UK time

#BOOKGIVEAWAY Follow @coldwarpod.bsky.social
then re share this post to enter a chance to win a copy of this book.

T&C's here coldwarconversations.com/giveaway/

#coldwarberlin #coldwarbook #spyhistory

North Korea sent me abroad to be a secret IT worker. My wages funded the regime In a rare interview, a former North Korean IT worker reveals the secret scheme raising funds for Kim Jong Un’s regime.

BBC News - North Korea sent me abroad to be a secret IT worker. My wages funded the regime
www.bbc.com/news/article...

‘Clinton Plan’ Emails Were Likely Made by Russian Spies, Declassified Report Shows

“Clinton Plan” Emails Were Likely Made by Russian Spies, Declassified Report Shows

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/31/u...

* REUTERS POLL -- NEARLY 90% ECONOMISTS, 89 OF 100, SAY THEY ARE CONCERNED ABOUT THE QUALITY OF OFFICIAL U.S. ECONOMIC DATA, INCLUDING 41 SAYING VERY CONCERNED

@reuters.com

Anybody see a transcript from the Texas flood hearings in Austin and Kerrville earlier in the week. I have the videos but wanted to get transcripts and public comments if I can find them.

A red and white banner features a graphic of the Te Herenga Waka Press logo (THW) and text saying 'New website sale, 50% off all books published 1949-2022, throughout August, while stocks last.'

Huge news! Today we're launching our biggest sale ever, to celebrate the move to a shiny new website.

✨ Smooth website experience
📚 50% off ALL books from 2022 & earlier
🗓️ For all of August, while stocks last

The sale is live now at www.teherengawakapress.co.nz.

Gabbard Release Threatens Sources and Methods, Top former Intel Official Says Larry Pfeiffer discussed the ODNI’s attacks on the IC’s Russia 2016 elections report on the SpyTalk podcast

Gabbard Release Threatens Sources and Methods, Top former Intel Official Says
www.spytalk.co/p/gabbard-re...

The Evolution of Russian Intelligence, 1917-2025 Former MI6 Chief Sir John Scarlett and a distinguished panel of experts will examine the evolution of Russian intelligence from 1917 to 2025.

Now how cool is this? And we can attend online, too.

my.rusi.org/events/the-e...

Lots of folks around politics may wonder whether the ways we did politics will still work under the new Trump regime. Some will, some won’t.

History shows us how Americans have fought for change under many regimes, incl fascist ones like this that are violently lawless & oppressive. Learn to win.

Trump fires labor statistics boss hours after the release of weak jobs report The president implied that the BLS commissioner, longtime federal employee Erika McEntarfer, manipulated the data "for political purposes."

Firing people who report bad economic news doesn’t change the fact that Americans still feel the effects of higher prices, lower wages, and fewer job opportunities.
www.nbcnews.com/business/eco...

This is how they managed statistics in the old USSR.

I'm about to sign a speaker's contract which has a section in it entitled "Legalese." I like the spirit behind that.

"When the first of August came round, the Professor realized he had pleasantly trifled away nearly two months at a task which should have taken little more than a week."

--Willa Cather, 1925 and timeless

It’s rather like the Soviet Ministry of Medium Machine Building.

The best show of the 21st century was The Americans and it is not particularly close