Tessera

I'm too angry to do a proper political analysis. I can only swear!

Arife Kose@arifekose.bsky.social · 2d ago

Now the number of people detained has raised to 50!

LGBTQ+ people's houses, associations and workplaces were raided by the police last night in Turkey. So far 26 people have been taken into custody. Strikingly the operation is called "My Family is Safe.' Legal proceedings were launched against 162 people, 9 associations, and 13 businesses in+

Arife Kose@arifekose.bsky.social · 2d ago

Now the number of people detained has raised to 50!

bianet English@bianet-eng.bsky.social · 2d ago

Widespread police raids, online censorship target Turkey’s LGBTI+ community in new crackdown bianet.org/haber/widesp...

This is a useful, historically grounded critique of blitzer-like 100 day pledge rhetoric. www.wilsonquarterly.com/quarterly/ba...

The Hundred Day Mistake

Is an FDR-style legislative blitz the best way forward in our present crisis?

wilsonquarterly.com

bianet English@bianet-eng.bsky.social · 2d ago

Widespread police raids, online censorship target Turkey’s LGBTI+ community in new crackdown bianet.org/haber/widesp...

Graham Macklin @grahammacklin.bsky.social · 2d ago

At least 28 anti-migrant vigilante groups have formed in the UK in the last 18 months, ranging from unauthorised street patrols claiming to protect women and children to groups harassing migrants in France and blocking ports.

Number of UK anti-migrant vigilante groups surges in last 18 months

Exclusive: Many ‘use community protection as a cover for racist thuggery’, raising concerns about fresh disorder

theguardian.com

ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 3d ago

This is exactly right. It’s mystifying but suspect a political culture inside Labour sees sticking to rules of narrow policy making as the only sort of ‘serious’ politics, & dismisses big picture thinking as silly or indulgent. So the big picture guys in the US (mad as they are) are left unchecked.

Will Jennings📉🗳️@drjennings.bsky.social · 3d ago

Politicians on the centre-left and centre-right simply don't seem to understand they are in an existential battle for the future of British democracy.

Arife Kose @arifekose.bsky.social · 4d ago

Most focus on the $5,000 pledge, but I think Trumpapalooza was indicator of how politics has been transformed. I'm finishing my Farage analysis now; Trumpapalooza is next. Saying this here so the promise stops me developing a sudden urge to clean parts of the house I never clean, instead of writing!

Arife Kose @arifekose.bsky.social · 4d ago

This is incredible in many ways..

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 4d ago

Trump: "Please right your right hand. I pledge to the greatest president in the history of the United States. That loves us so much he can't even breath. That I will go out with my family, my friends, I'll do it any way - I don't care if I'm registered or not, I'm going to try to cheat like hell..."

I think it is a mistake to focus on this $5000 pledge. As you see in this video, Trump and the Republicans can explain this. And, I'm sure Trump will do this in his second speech today. He did a good job by surprising everyone with this pledge, now everyone will be more interested in his second+

NEWSNATION: Is the president buying American votes? MICHAEL WHATLEY: We need to have people keep more of their money (Not a no!)

It's a rhetorical skill. Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan rarely speaks less than 2 hours. Hugo Chaves's longest speech was 9.5 hours. Usually used by autocrats because it amplifies speaker's ethos as a skillful rhetor.

Trump spoke for one hour and 45 minutes last night. Just flabbergasting. I firmly believe no political speech should be longer than 30 minutes long.

NEWSNATION: Is the president buying American votes? MICHAEL WHATLEY: We need to have people keep more of their money (Not a no!)

Press is wrong to focus on this $5000 pledge. As you see in this video, by doing this, they let Trump to determine the rhetoric. He can easily explain this. And, you'll see, he'll do in his second speech today. By focusing on this, media is just amplifying his campaign.

NEWSNATION: Is the president buying American votes? MICHAEL WHATLEY: We need to have people keep more of their money (Not a no!)

Trumpapalooza begins. It's not hard to guess his midterm strategy. But there is a limit to mobilise people only around the leader. Particularly when the leader imposes his will rather than articulating various demands around a political program. The question is whether Trump has reached to this+

David Klemperer @dmk1793.bsky.social · 6d ago

Dallas or Pyongyang?

The political right (even the comparatively mainstream right) prefers Jews as a separate, traditionalist, ethnonationalist community, distinct from the rest of society and available to be stereotyped, patronised, and 'protected', and responds with suspicion to the secular and the assimilated

Henry Mance@henrymance.ft.com · 6d ago

There's a constant insinuation that Ed Miliband is not a 'real Jew', and it seems very bad

Arife Kose @arifekose.bsky.social · 6d ago

Because their direct democracy is put against representative democracy rather than being a form of democracy seen in the Greek city states - rhetorical, agonistic and plural.

Josiah Mortimer@josiahmortimer.bsky.social · 6d ago

Thanks Politico for the shout out to my story on Restore Britain today. You can read it here bylinetimes.com/2026/09/08/t...

DEFINITELY NOT A CULT: Josiah Mortimer from Byline Times FOI’d the Restore Britain constitution. He notes that despite Rupert Lowe’s apparent passion for direct democracy, “there is no mechanism for removing the Leader at all. Not by the members, not by the board, not by anyone.” See the original document here.

Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 6d ago

This is basically a push poll and Zohran still beat it.

12. Mayor Mamdani has faced intense scrutiny from critics regarding his political circle and
statements. Do you feel his administration represents the core values of the average New Yorker
or is his platform out of step with average New Yorkers?
(N=500) n %
Represents core values of average New Yorkers-------301 60.20
Platform is too out of step with average New
Yorkers -----------------------------------------------------------140 28.00
Undecided --------------------------------------------------------- 56 11.20
Refused--------------------------------------------------------------- 3 0.60

Kim Masters@kimmasters.bsky.social · 6d ago

Expected by whom, @nytimes.com?

Arife Kose @arifekose.bsky.social · 6d ago

Yes, that's also me. Mine goes like: Final, Final1, Final2, date/final.. and, then, I move all the finals in a file and have last version on my desktop as 'final' again..

Alexander Chee@alexanderchee.bsky.social · 2w ago

When I think back writing my second novel and to all of the drafts I labeled Final Draft, Final Final, Final Final Final, Really The Final, Real Final 2, and so on… anyway here we are. I no longer engage in this kind of naming, I swear…

ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 7d ago

Stephen Bush, in the FT today writes that Labour “has now produced two governments whose response to acts of thuggery and intimidation is to reiterate that perhaps the thugs have a point”. A key question of political analysis is why Lab (and/or the British state) can’t/won’t be more decisive (x/?)

Adam Tooze on the elections in Sachsen-Anhalt. He basically argues that what we are seeing is fight on ethos: who we are and what we will become if we follow this course of action rather than the other one: "The more obvious conclusion is that to contest+ adamtooze.substack.com/p/chartbook-...

Chartbook 473 Germany’s democratic earthquake: the AfD breakthrough in Sachsen-Anhalt and the question of an “alternative to the Alternative”.

Germany’s democracy has suffered an earthquake.

adamtooze.substack.com

AFP News Agency@en.afp.com · last wk.

AfD's campaign slogan was "Everything is possible." This is a very effective use of democratic opening to close it down in an authoritarian way. It's enlarging people's imagination when simultaneously closing it. When our politics fail to capture this imagination, the gap is filled by reactionaries.

🇩🇪 Germany's far-right AfD won key regional elections Sunday by a landslide with at least 44 percent of the vote in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, according to exit polls by two public broadcasters.

This is fascinating! "In front of a stage proclaiming “everything is possible”, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) gathering had all the trappings of a funfair: bratwurst stands, beer stalls, live music and bouncy castles." www.ft.com/content/bf51...

Camaraderie and nostalgia: how Germany’s far-right AfD is winning the east

The party is predicted to secure more than 40% of the vote in Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday

ft.com