In Iran as in Venezuela, cyber + kinetic ops are used to degrade situational awareness, compress decision-making cycles and widen windows of advantage. Also, the target is not just connectivity but the Iranian public’s connection to their country. www.aspistrategist.org.au/beyond-bombs...
Tom Nichols lays out the risks from the attacks on Iran. We may succeed, but there are a 100 ways to fail. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
Why are folks not asking more questions about this FBI complaint in the Epstein Files?
www.justice.gov/epstein/file...
Daniel Stid argues for responsible pluralism in philanthropy. It is something we should see throughout our political life. open.substack.com/pub/artofass...
It has been a year since Trump and Rubio stopped funding USAID. The costs born by the poor who those programs helped have enormous. But they are far from us; we do not see how they suffer and die. It is an American-made catastrophe. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/08/o...
What if the enshittification cycle of Big Tech includes a political capture loop? If Big Tech--Google. Meta, Twitter, etc.--controls information, how can we bring it down? How can we do to Amazon what Tarbell did to Standard Oil? open.substack.com/pub/hypertex...
Questions about the recent cyber incident in Poland. In any type of analysis, it is important to ask what sources are used with what limits and what assumptions are made. pylos.co/2026/01/31/a...
Joe Collins lays out reasons why we have been able to wear a white hat in international affairs. Trump and his administration seem to be trying the black hat on for size.
open.substack.com/pub/josephco...
Montgomery County, MD, has changed dramatically since Sidney Randolph was lynched in Rockville on the Fourth of July, 1896. But its history since then shows that anger and hate in the county have not disappeared.
www.mocolmp.org/post/racial-...
The killing of Alex Pretti is a heartbreaking tragedy. It should also be a wake-up call to every American, regardless of party, that many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault.
I watched Trump’s speech at Davos and came away convinced that his mental state is abnormal, to use a neutral phrase. This article gives clinical reasons why we should all be concerned. What makes it worse: his condition is progressive. open.substack.com/pub/clairebe...
U.S. manufacturing is struggling. Why? Tariffs raise the prices of inputs; their implementation and complexity add to uncertainty. Beware of forecasts that any of this will change. www.cato.org/commentary/a...
Trump at Davos: Soliloquy of a lunatic. It is sad, dispiriting. humiliating, maddening.
An eloquent appraisal of where we stand in our 250th year.
The Trumpian worldview is consistent, sort of, and bonkers. We will have to live with and try to undo the damage it is wreaking. That will be a task for the next generation. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
Peace for a prize, not simply because it's good. In case anyone doubted that Trump is transactional, not principled. www.reuters.com/world/europe...
Copenhagen town hall square, Denmark right now.
Massive solidarity with Greenland demonstrations.
Source: dr.dk
Our imperialist president proves that hypocrisy is but a venial sin. Would that he saw American interests as Kipling and McKinley did rather than as Stephen Miller does.
May Trump have a Dickensian NYE night. May he be visited by ghosts of America Past, Present, and Future. May he greet the New Year as a new man, happy, generous, loving his fellow man, great and small, rich and poor.
Barton Swaim sees profanity as a political statement. one that will leave us when the political winds change. Alas, it's not. It has become ubiquitous, embedded in our culture. www.wsj.com/opinion/free...
Trump. Hegseth, et al., like Peter Pan, will never grow up. Pity them.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
The Trump administration does not understand that Russia cares not about economics, only empire, and is dedicated to the complete subjugation of Ukraine. Believing that they think as we do is a fool's game.
www.realcleardefense.com/articles/202...
The label 'competitive authoritarianism' might be accurate for the US. But the factors favoring democracy remain strong. www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...
Is there corruption in Ukraine? Of course. But how do we know? Ukrainians, determined to root it out, are making it transparent. In contrast, Russia is determined to make it opaque and the Trump administration has made it translucent. open.substack.com/pub/anneappl... @anneapplebaum.bsky.social
A small thing, but telling. The National Park Service Ends Fee-Free Days on MLK Day and Juneteenth and Places Trump on America the Beautiful Passes open.substack.com/pub/kevinmle...
The article is somewhat snarky, but it has insight into what makes Trump tick: The joys of a 12-year old boy with no parents to say he can't.
Peggy Noonan on this era of political violence. We need to cool it. How can we? www.wsj.com/opinion/were...
The cybersecurity of our country always had to depend on cooperation between government and the private sector. It now seems that the federal government is folding its tent. wapo.st/4iaHqBR
Rich Harwood has seen that we have fallen out of the habit of thinking locally; we focus instead on national issues and look outside our community for solutions. This makes us spectators, not players. There is so much more that we can do if we think and act locally.
open.substack.com/pub/civicbar...
The empathy is missing.
