@ajoystein
Sociologist thinking and writing about authoritarianism, democracy, LGBTQ issues, feminism. Author of The Stranger Next Door, Unbound, other books. Child of immigrants. Never Again for Anyone. #KnittyGrittyJC
There is one party that will benefit from the war: Russia. ... Rather than confront Putin, Trump is rewarding [him] by relaxing restrictions on Russian oil exports. Energy profits fuel Putin’s kleptocracy, and his failing state needs a boost. Trump will give it to him.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat March 12
A majority of Republican men under 50 think that the Holocaust either didn’t happen or was exaggerated.
I Went to Florida to See the 31-Year-Old Candidate Thrilling Gen Z. We’re in Trouble. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/12/o...
This is the first war that feels like it’s been launched by A.I: It’s all been done on a level less than thought.
John Ganz, March 11
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower, March 1953
Because Trump has no conception of the seriousness or complexity of war, he apparently believes he can “turn off” the war like a water spigot. Not so. He has provoked Iran into taking measures that are not easily reversible.
Robert Hubbell, March 11
It is impossible to look at the current crop of fascists, with their ostentatious displays of machismo, and not see the urgency of a basic education in gender studies.
Katherine Alejandra Cross, March 11, Liberal Currents
Trump has said both that the war could go on for more than a month and that it was “very complete, pretty much.”
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/10/u...
🌀
🔮 FutureOfPopulism No.83
When mainstream politicians close or merge local facilities, some communities are left without nearby services. @nnyholt.bsky.social reveals how citizens negatively affected by political decisions are more likely to vote for right-wing populist parties
bit.ly/3XhK8Nu
More, please.
They Don’t Want Their Company’s Surveillance Tool Used by ICE www.nytimes.com/2026/03/11/t...
60 percent of Americans oppose Iran war.
Unlike Past U.S. Conflicts, Iran Attack Is Opposed by Most Americans www.nytimes.com/2026/03/10/u...
So far, the war on Iran falls into a larger pattern of Trump policies leaving wanton destruction in their wake.
Trump’s Smash-and-Grab Presidency Reaches New Heights www.nytimes.com/2026/03/10/o...
We must raise our voices so loudly that Congress rouses itself to do its job by exercising oversight of Trump’s war. A great opportunity to do so is on March 28, 2026, the next No Kings Day.
Robert Hubbel March 10
A lot of the left wants social change to look like the French Revolution or Che Guevara. Maybe changing the world is more like caregiving than it is like war.
Rebecca Solnit Says the Left’s Next Hero Is Already Here www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/m...
We should probably stop letting people who are eagerly awaiting the Rapture govern us.
As recent history reminds us, regime change delivered from the outside rarely produces the democracy imagined on the inside.
America Won’t Save Iran www.nytimes.com/2026/03/06/o...
And Islamophobic.
The stories being told about Muslims and immigrants today are the same stories that were being told about Jews a century ago.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
More, please!
This Summer, Students From Hundreds of Colleges Will Heed One Urgent Call www.nytimes.com/2026/03/04/o...
Alison Durkee of Forbes reported today that Trump’s military strikes in Iran have already cost U.S. taxpayers more than $1 billion.
Good to know that our war aims are clear
#BarkingLunatics
#Hegseth
jonathanlarsen.substack.com/p/us-troops-...
What Trump has always hated isn’t conflict but sacrifice, the notion that American power should ever be constrained by a veneer of idealism or care for global opinion.
The Idea That Trump Was Antiwar Was Always Delusional www.nytimes.com/2026/03/02/o...
As an authoritarian president launches another war, it’s time for a new generation to raise William Jennings Bryan’s historic banner: No empire, no kings.
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/03/o...
Bibi jawboning Trump into war surely won't cause anti-semitism to metastasize. No way, no how.
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/02/u...
The destruction of schools and universities is an attempt to destroy the possibility of imagining a future.
Judith Butler, Barnard College, Feb. 28, 2026 (paraphrased)
Currently trending on X.
The Department of Education has hung a massive banner honoring a racist college dropout who built a lucrative career out of targeting professors for harassment
