@nickkristof
New York Times columnist, author, backpacker and Oregon farmer. Always reporting on the ground. Trying to help democracy prevail and distracting myself by making great wine and cider at KristofFarms.com.
Good piece noting that one reason Oregon has among the worst educational test scores in America may be that it also has one of the shortest school years; by graduation, an Oregon kid has had the equivalent of a full year less than kids in other states. www.the74million.org/article/amid...
The couples that make wine and cider together stay together! We're honored to see @nickkristof.bsky.social and Sheryl WuDunn highlighted. www.oregonwinepress.com/article?arti...
What does this imply for those of us who are not Christian, and who labor under the assumption that we're protected by the First Amendment?
“If the United States wants to stop plunging into Middle East wars, it needs to value its own interests more than it hates its old enemies.” Rob Malley in @nytopinion.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/o...
We're honored that TWO of our ciders were selected finalists for America's Good Food Awards. Our trees are bowing their boughs in gratitude.
JD VANCE: "There's just no way Trump is gonna about this country to get into a multiyear conflict with no end in sight"
TRUMP HOURS LATER: "Wars can be fought 'forever,' and very successfully"
wow -- Tillis goes ballistic on Noem, telling her "what we've seen is a disaster under your leadership"
"There are more problems in international relations than solutions, and in the past the illusion of an easy military answer has repeatedly caused tragedy for ourselves as well as for others."
In @nytopinion.nytimes.com
“We Americans have begun another Middle Eastern war based on dubious intelligence claims, and as in 2003, I fear we haven’t thought through the substantial risks and uncertain gains,” our columnist @nickkristof.bsky.social writes.
It’s official: Khamenei is dead. It’s not clear that it makes a difference. But it might. Khamenei was a malign, conservative influence on Iranian politics (so much worse than Ayatollah Montazeri, who had been slated to succeed Khomeini) and some younger figures may be more open to change.
“As I weigh the benefits and costs of this new war with Iran, I fear that we have sleepwalked into yet another perilous folly in the Middle East.”
Spot on from @nickkristof.bsky.social today:
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/28/o...
"You can't bomb your way to democracy."
Correct. By manipulated intelligence, I was referring to Trump's claims of Iran developing an ICBM capability, the reference to all Iran needing to do was foreswear nuclear weapons, and the Witkoff assertion that Iran is a week away from a nuclear capability.
My new column is "The Folly of Attacking Iran": www.nytimes.com/2026/02/28/o... To me it feels as if we've once again relied on manipulated intelligence to launch a war with vast aims to reshape the Middle East but little prospect of success -- yet with great risks. Thoughts?
Border Patrol has been dropping people onto city streets without coordination for decades. This case is particularly horrific, but it’s part of a longstanding pattern. This is why Dems should subject Border Patrol to the same scrutiny & reform demands as ICE.
Buffalo.
Minneapolis.
Portland.
Everywhere they go they leave devastation in their wake and it EASILY could be your town next.
Alarming article in the WashPost suggests Trump is being urged to issue an executive order that would given him enormous control over elections on the basis that Chinese interference in elections has created a national emergency. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Some thoughtful letters-to-the-editor about my recent column about the need to learn from 3 red states doing solid work on education. I particularly commend the first, from teacher union leader @rweingarten.bsky.social; it'll surprise some folks: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/o...
US immigration officials picked up a blind Rohingya refugee last week in Buffalo, NY. Then, realizing they had no basis to deport him, they released him five miles from his home. He needed a walking stick and died trying to make his way back to his house: www.investigativepost.org/2026/02/25/b...
This has nothing to do with world news, but if you're a backpacker then check out the gear lists and recommendations from PCT thruhikers compiled here: www.halfwayanywhere.com/trails/pacif... Best gear advice there is! And backpacking is one way I stay sane in the Trump era.
Terrific podcast conversation between @ezraklein.bsky.social and @jackclarksf.bsky.social about agentic AI. I was intrigued by Jack's discussion of AI models that seem disgusted by excess gore or that break from work to look at Internet photos of national parks. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/24/o...
Trump said less about Iran than I had expected. Not sure what to make of that. He also said, puzzlingly, that he was waiting for Iran to say that it would not build a bomb; in fact, Iranian officials say that regularly. The problem isn't Iran's words but its enriched uranium.
How about: For President Trump to denounce corruption is like...Trump demanding punishment of sexual offenders.
For President Trump to denounce corruption is like.... (what's the best simile? You fill in the blank.)
Trump claims progress on health care affordability. But his health care cuts are leading to far fewer people being insured. One study estimates that as a result of declining insurance coverage under Trump, an extra 51,000 Americans will die annually: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/03/o...
After a fairly sober opening, Trump is now veering into fantasy, falsely claiming that he ended taxes on Social Security and suggesting that tariffs paid by foreigners will mostly replace the income tax. All false.
Trump is of course right in the SOTU that the stock market is up -- but it's up less in dollar terms than European markets, because the dollar is down. And he's right that the economy grew 2.2 percent in 2025, but that's down from 2.8 percent in the last year of the Biden administration.
NPR reports that the Justice Department withheld from the released Epstein files some that pertained to allegations that Donald Trump had sexually abused a minor. www.npr.org/2026/02/24/n...
A new report from @pressfreedom.bsky.social finds that nearly all Palestinian journalists imprisoned by Israel were subject to abuse, sometimes including torture, rape and starvation. cpj.org/special-repo... I'd just add that the Biden and Trump administrations were both complicit.
TikTok videos by child soldiers on both sides of the Sudan war have attracted millions of views and help recruit yet more child soldiers, @bellingcatofficial finds.
