Delighted to announce the shortlist of the Disturbing the Peace Prize for 2026: havelcenter.org/2026/08/02/2...

2026 DISTURBING THE PEACE AWARD: SHORT LIST ANNOUNCED - Vaclav Havel Center

The annual Disturbing the Peace Award to a Courageous Writer at Risk recognizes authors of distinguished works of fiction, literary nonfiction, biography, memoire, drama, or poetry who are courageous ...

havelcenter.org

Skeleton Manifesto would be a great band name

Mark Chadbourn@chadbourn.bsky.social · 4d ago

Reform is drawing up a “skeleton manifesto” (as it essentially has no policies beyond immigration) and “speeding up candidate selection” in case there’s an early election. What could possibly go wrong?

NORMAL PEOPLE: Every single one of these assholes told a dumb brazen lie to our faces and should never be trusted again. CORPORATE MEDIA: Thank you for coming back to chat with us, sir!

MeidasTouch@meidastouch.com · 5d ago

We could've made this montage of liars an hour long but you get the point

He’d been thinking about leaving “for a while?” He got the job a year ago.

Let’s hope so.

The New York Times@nytimes.com · 5d ago

Breaking News: The Washington Post’s top opinion editor resigned a little over a year after Jeff Bezos, the paper’s owner, hired him under a directive to shift the section toward “personal liberties and free markets.”

This dreary continual rain is making crave soup.

No professional accomplishment has ever made me happier than this. theonion.com/translator-o...

Translator Of Original ‘Minions’ Epic Poem Slams ‘Sexless, Bloodless’ Film Adaptation

PHILADELPHIA—In a 4,500-word essay published in Harper’s Magazine, Emily Wilson, known for her popular translation of the Minions epic poem, blasted the latest film Thursday as a “sexless, bloodless” ...

theonion.com

Mitch and Darline Graham Nordone didn’t vote.

11 months ago The Guardian wrote a piece exposing the anonymous white nationalist known as "Lomez" on Twitter and who ran the press that published racists books by Steve Sailer. Today, Ross Douthat granted Lomez a friendly interview in the New York Times. www.theguardian.com/world/articl...

Revealed: US university lecturer behind far-right Twitter account and publishing house

Guardian investigation identifies Jonathan Keeperman, a former lecturer at the University of California, Irvine, as ‘Lomez’

theguardian.com

When CBS hired Morley Safer to 60 minutes, he was a few years younger than ross douthat, but had already covered 9 wars, including Vietnam, where he’d been shot down in combat, broke the infamous village torching story, & got an Emmy for the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. That’s a journalist.

I’d assumed that Douthat was being hired as an Andy Rooney-style commentator at the end of the show. But they have him listed as a “correspondent,” which is unusual for someone who is not exactly known as a reporter, especially an investigative one.

13. That's the thread. It was part of Thursday's edition. If you love my threads, you'll love getting the Editorial Board sent straight to your inbox every day. Subscribe! www.editorialboard.com/new-poll-sug...

New poll suggests 'the end days' coming for Trump and the GOP

But it didn't begin with his war. It began with his reelection.

editorialboard.com

12. If they prefer exclusion, they will find plenty of companionship among the Republicans.

11. Both should be reminded, and scolded, and even punished, for forgetting that inclusion, *everyone's inclusion*, is the point of their own school of political thought.

10. Let's say that some Democrats do not sufficiently respect the rights of Muslims. And let's say that some democratic socialists do not sufficiently respect the rights of Jews.

9. But that fault line is important for another reason. It holds everyone accountable, and by doing that, keeps the peace.

8. In contrast, everyone who stands right of center reserves the right to revoke anyone's dignity. We don't do that. We might disagree fiercely about *the means of inclusion*, but not the goal of it. Our side would see more peace if everyone remembered that.

7. I think that fault line is important for two reasons. One is that it keeps the peace. No matter where you are on the broad center-left continuum within the Democratic Party, your orientation is to include, not exclude, and to presume that every human being is worthy of respect.

6. The Republicans always ask "who is deserving?" The Democrats always assume everyone is. (Anyway, they usually do.)

5. One is exclusive. The other is inclusive. One is politics as we know it. The other is, in his view, democratic socialism. But the important dynamic is that by establishing a fault line between political ideologies, Mamdani is establishing a fault line between the parties.

4. That's the part of his interview that's getting the most attention. Here's the part I think should get more. Mamdani said most American politics can be divided between two questions: "Who deserves what?" and "how do we serve everyone?"

3. Yet no one sees these things as radical, because we all take them for granted. That said, he added, if those ideas were introduced today, they'd be smeared as radical.

2. He used the example of a public library. It's a radical idea to have a building where you distribute books for free. Same thing goes for free fire departments and free schools.

Here’s an intervention from the current National Data Guardian. They are recruiting her successor (see previous post) - you can see it’s an important role www.ft.com/content/e793...

NHS England reprimanded over Palantir data access omission

Staff from controversial tech company have been given ‘unlimited access’ to identifiable patient data

ft.com

President Trump had (loudly) promised that he would ask #SCOTUS to grant rehearing of its June 30 decision blocking his executive order purporting to limit birthright citizenship. The deadline for such a request was yesterday—and ... crickets.

Many Indians are either cockroaches now or in the process of becoming them. If they were to come together in a meaningful political way then Mr Modi may be in much bigger trouble than he is in today. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The Guardian view on India’s gen Z revolt: the cockroaches are coming together | Editorial

Editorial: A youth movement born from exam leaks and online mockery has pierced Narendra Modi’s aura of invincibility and may yet reshape Indian politics

theguardian.com

With facial recognition now becoming part of GOI's arsenal, here's a podcast I did in 2019 with Uyghur activist and writer Abduweli Ayop, about FRT's use in Uyghur regions, about its human rights implications. www.ihrb.org/latest/podca...

The new issue of @indexoncensorship.org is out. I have an essay: American art and writing in times of war: Salil Tripathi Suppression of critical voices in the USA in the wake of 9/11. www.indexoncensorship.org/2026/07/cont...

Contents – The Art of War: How artists and writers battle with censorship in times of conflict - Index on Censorship

The Summer 2026 issue of Index on Censorship looks at How artists and writers battle with censorship in times of conflict

indexoncensorship.org

I have been WAITING for a story talking about how the current war on immigrants affects immigrant caregivers, rather than the people who work for. Really appreciate this breakdown on the personal, social, financial, political precarity of care work because it is so undervalued and disrespected.

The Crisis of Care Work - The American Prospect

The end of Temporary Protected Status and Trump’s budget cuts make a bad situation worse.

prospect.org

OSSOFF: You stated on the 14th day of this conflict that Iran's military was 'destroyed.' Was that an accurate statement -- yes or no? HEGSETH: Iran's ability to challenge the US-- OSSOFF: That's not what I asked. Yes or no? HEGSETH: What the milit--- OSSOFF: Will you answer the question?