Politics

Table of Contents

Voting is important

Democratic politicians spend a lot of time thinking about how to engage people and persuade them to vote. But a certain kind of autocrat, of whom Putin is the outstanding example, seeks to convince people of the opposite: not to participate, not to care, and not to follow politics at all. The propaganda used in Putin’s Russia has been designed in part for this purpose. The constant provision of absurd, conflicting explanations and ridiculous lies - the famous “firehose of falsehoods” - encourages many people to believe that there is no truth at all. The result is widespread cynicism. If you don’t know what’s true, after all, then there isn’t anything you can do about it. Protest is pointless. Engagement is useless.

Geopolitical conflicts

e.g. War in Ukraine

When the hippopotamuses quarrel, then the frogs get stepped on.

Tags

  1. The case for not freaking out by election results
  2. A Stain on the Honor of the Navy
  3. How Trump won — and how Harris lost — the 2024 election
  4. Federal Judges, Warning of ‘Judicial Crisis,’ Fault Supreme Court’s Emergency Orders
  5. How Trump Killed Cancer Research

TODO

  1. He Wrote a Book About Antifa. Death Threats Are Driving Him Out of the US
  2. Inside Trumpworld’s Reality Distortion Field https://www.wired.com/story/inside-trumpworlds-reality-distortion-field/
  3. The Age of Corporate Capitulation Won’t Work http://www.theringer.com/2025/09/19/politics/jimmy-kimmel-show-suspension-abc-disney-donald-trump-charlie-kirk
  4. How to burst the Israeli bubble https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/sep/14/how-to-burst-the-israeli-bubble
  5. The origins of today’s conflict between American Jews over Israel https://www.theguardian.com/news/2025/sep/25/origins-todays-conflict-between-american-jews-over-israel
  6. A Dark Money Group Is Secretly Funding High-Profile Democratic Influencers https://www.wired.com/story/dark-money-group-secret-funding-democrat-influencers/
  7. The Unexpected Winners of Trump’s Trade War https://www.wired.com/story/shein-temu-winners-trade-war-trump/
  8. Democrats and the Case of Mistaken Identity Politics http://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/09/opinion/democrats-identity-politics.html
  9. The Pro-Trump Mob Was Doing It For The ’Gram - https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/elaminabdelmahmoud/trump-mob-social-media-insurrection
  10. Why Do So Many People Think Trump Is Good? https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/07/trump-administration-supporters-good/683441/
  11. Why Jolly Ranchers Are Banned in the UK but Not the US https://www.wired.com/story/why-jolly-ranchers-are-banned-in-the-uk-but-not-the-us-moah-mosh-gras/
  12. Meteorologists Say the National Weather Service Did Its Job in Texas https://www.wired.com/story/meteorologists-say-the-national-weather-service-did-its-job-in-texas/
  13. This Is DOGE 2.0 https://www.wired.com/story/next-stage-doge-elon-musk/
  14. How Edward ‘Big Balls’ Coristine and DOGE Got Access to a Federal Payroll System That Serves the FBI https://www.wired.com/story/edward-coristine-big-balls-doge-federal-pay-roll-system/
  15. Phone Searches at the US Border Hit a Record High https://www.wired.com/story/phone-searches-at-the-us-border-hit-a-record-high/
  16. Mysterious Crime Spree Targeted National Guard Equipment Stashes https://www.wired.com/story/mysterious-crime-spree-targeted-national-guard-equipment-stashes/
  17. Police Report: Edward ‘Big Balls’ Coristine Assaulted in Alleged Carjacking https://www.wired.com/story/edward-coristine-big-balls-assaulted-alleged-carjacking/
  18. How DOGE Could Impact Your Social Security Benefits https://www.investopedia.com/doge-could-impact-your-social-security-benefits-heres-how-11723762
  19. A DOGE AI Tool Called SweetREX Is Coming to Slash US Government Regulation https://www.wired.com/story/sweetrex-deregulation-ai-us-government-regulation-doge/
  20. The First Federal Cybersecurity Disaster of Trump 2.0 Has Arrived https://www.wired.com/story/the-first-federal-cybersecurity-disaster-of-trump-20-has-arrived/
  21. ‘Trump is a horror story, isn’t he?’ Stephen King on villains, dark secrets and dreams https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/aug/13/trump-is-a-horror-story-isnt-he-stephen-king-on-villains-dark-secrets-and-dreams
  22. An Alleged Not-So-Secret D.C. Affair Tells Us Everything About the Trump Administration https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/08/kristi-noem-corey-lewandowski-alleged-affair-dhs-trump.html
  23. How much is Trump pocketing off the Presidency? https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/08/18/the-number
  24. Trump’s Unforgivable Sin https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/08/trump-incompetence/683779/
  25. President Midas’ Terrible Touch https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/09/opinion/trump-design-rococo-gold.html
  26. Feudalism Is Our Future https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/07/government-privatization-feudalism/682888/
  27. DOGE Is in Its AI Era https://www.wired.com/story/doge-is-in-its-ai-era/
  28. DOGE Is Building a Master Database to Surveil and Track Immigrants https://www.wired.com/story/doge-collecting-immigrant-data-surveil-track/
  29. DOGE Is Just Getting Warmed Up https://www.wired.com/story/doge-is-just-getting-warmed-up-data-immigration/
  30. China signals it’s prepared to double down on support for the economy as Trump tariffs loom: https://apnews.com/article/china-economy-trump-xi-jinping-tariffs-9c2ce50ec9dd511587bee3d5a1b6a4b8
  31. Biden isn’t the first president to pardon a relative. Here’s how the power works: https://www.npr.org/2024/12/02/nx-s1-5213251/hunter-biden-presidential-pardon-explained?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
  32. The Democrats Need an Honest Conversation on Gender Identity: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/11/democrats-dishonest-gender-conversation-2024-election/680604/
  33. Republican Victory and the Ambience of Information: https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/republican-victory-and-the-ambience-of-information
  34. Trump openly embraces, amplifies QAnon conspiracy theories - https://apnews.com/article/technology-donald-trump-conspiracy-theories-government-and-politics-db50c6f709b1706886a876ae6ac298e2
  35. What’s Wrong With Identity Politics? - https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/olufemi-taiwo-identity-politics-elite-capture.html
  36. Pence: Candidates must run ‘as Republicans’ to win in 2024: https://apnews.com/article/pence-donors-republican-2024-trump-desantis-2686b6ce2c7c033667d4109088b16017
  37. https://getpocket.com/collections/hail-to-the-chief-one-great-article-about-every-us-president?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us
  38. https://aeon.co/essays/the-strange-and-turbulent-global-world-of-ant-geopolitics?utm_source=rss-feed
  39. How Far Trump Would Go: https://time.com/6972021/donald-trump-2024-election-interview/
  40. The Petty Feud Between the NYT and the White House: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/04/25/new-york-times-biden-white-house-00154219
  41. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/05/politics-fear-itself-trump-maga/678311/
  42. To beat Trump, we need to know why Americans keep voting for him. Psychologists may have the answer: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/29/donald-trump-americans-us-culture-republican
  43. Team Trump Never Dreamed Sidney Powell Would Flip on Them: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/team-trump-sidney-powell-flip-rico-fulton-county-1234858576/
  44. https://apnews.com/article/biden-political-legacy-presidential-election-5aee4f47ecb317d4f6ef2a2148eba1d8
  45. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/26/no-wannabe-dictators-donald-trump-booed-at-libertarian-convention

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