The High-Water Mark of the New Nationalism in Central Europe?
Leading The Bulwark…
The High-Water Mark of the New Nationalism in Central Europe?
DALIBOR ROHAC: The strength of Kaczyński in Poland and Orbán in Hungary—darlings of some American conservatives—may already have peaked.
🎧 On the Pods… 🎧
Amb. Eric Edelman on the Catastrophe in Afghanistan
On today's podcast, Ambassador Eric Edelman, a former undersecretary of defense for policy, joins host Charlie Sykes to discuss the collapse of Afghanistan, the future of terrorism, and the damage to America's reputation.
ATMA: Why Did Jeopardy Lose Its New Host in Record Time?
Plus: 'Reminiscence' reviewed!
For Bulwark+ Members… 🔐
MORNING SHOTS: Democrats: Maybe Failure Is An Option 🔓
CHARLIE SYKES on the real voting rights crisis.
THE TRIAD: Gavin Newsom and Minority Rule 🔐
JVL on the demographics of losing a war.
ATMA+: Kid Movie Memories 🔐
On this week’s special bonus episode, Alyssa and Sonny talked about taking kids to the movies on the heels of Paw Patrol’s surprising box office performance before looping Peter in for a discussion about our own earliest movie memories.
From The Bulwark Aggregator…
Jan. 6 committee to seek lawmaker records - Rebecca Beitsch, The Hill
Can Democrats Move Forward A Voting Rights Bill By Making A Moral Case For It? - Alex Samuels, FiveThirtyEight
CIA Director William Burns held secret meeting in Kabul with Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar - John Hudson, The Washington Post
Ultra-Vaxxed Israel’s Crisis Is a Dire Warning to America - Noga Tarnopolsky, The Daily Beast
Lake Ozark mayor wants ivermectin treatment for friend with COVID-19 as FDA warns against - Bill Lukitsch, Kansas City Star
One Dead After Firefight Breaks Out at Kabul Airport - Chas Danner, Intelligencer
In Today’s Bulwark...
‘The Chair’ Brings the Campus Home
DANIEL N. GULLOTTA: We’re all living on campus now, and Netflix’s new dramedy shows how dreadful that life can be.
The Cyber Ninjas’ Real Finding: Other States Can Run Sham Audits, Too
AMANDA CARPENTER: Report or no report, the Arizona audit provides a model for MAGA.
🚨OVERTIME 🚨
Hope you’re having a great Tuesday. I’ve been thinking a lot about dogs lately, and appreciate very much the kind and helpful advice readers have sent as we prepare to integrate a new rescue dog into our home. Hopefully with success.
And then I read this, in The Guardian. It’s about a tech writer who describes her brief time with a Sony-made $3,000 robot dog. Seriously look at the dog. I bring this up not to mock the writer, who excerpted this item from her larger book about human interaction with artificial intelligence. But obviously there are some people who want a digital $3,000 dog. Which, to us 80’s/90’s kids, is just a really expensive Tamagotchi.
Why would you spend $3k on a robot dog when you could have a real one that doesn’t have fake emotions, triumphs, or problems? Sadly, as this new movie Ron’s Gone Wrong predicts, this is probably the future our kids want.
Not good for the dogs, and this is how SkyNet continues its growth from smart devices into our lives.
More worthwhile charities to help Afghan refugees.
One of my sisters who lives in Cleveland, pointed to this charity, Refugee Response, on the West Side (where I went to high school and she lives) that does important work in Cleveland for resettled families. I hadn’t heard of them, but in researching them, found a high school and college classmate of mine on the board. It’s not a big charity, but check out their work.
I know JVL linked to some of the work that Lutheran Social Services is doing in a lot of cities. And a lot of our members are Wisconsinites and longtime Charlie Sykes listeners, so I wanted to plug the Wisconsin chapter at the behest of Jennie E. from Milwaukee. She writes:
This evening, I donated to the Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. They will be working to resettle the refugees brought to Fort McCoy in Wisconsin. The appeal has gone out here in the newspaper, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on 8/23/2021, for funds to help. Website is lsswis.org.
In the coming days, we’ll be sharing more ways you can help. The Bulwark community has shown a willingness to do to put aside political disagreement and fight for or do what is right, and we’ll keep you posted on some of the best ways to help. Thanks for all who have generously donated to various causes, and please keep sending suggestions to us.
This parody of reality, sadly, is happening on many timelines across America…
Larry Elder is wild. If you’re not from California, or haven’t paid much attention to fringe GOP or libertarian politics, you’ve probably never heard of Larry Elder. Here’s a primer.
But this show? Wow.
The show only lasted a year.
“The tweets of a dangerously disengaged governor” The Orlando Sentinel has some harsh words for Gov. DeSantis:
“There can be no question that many Florida hospitals are stretched to their absolute limits,” said Mary Mayhew, head of the Florida Hospital Association and DeSantis’ former health secretary.
The governor’s response? His education commissioner, Richard Corcoran, is going to war with school districts who, in the name of keeping kids safe, want students to wear masks. The governor’s also going to court to defend a law that prohibits businesses like cruise lines from requiring customers to have been vaccinated.
When he’s not battling people who are trying to keep Floridians safe, the governor is tweeting about handing out bonus checks to cops and teachers (checks that resulted from congressional Democrats passing the American Rescue Plan over Republican opposition, a detail the governor deliberately omits).
Our chief concern here is not whether DeSantis is using his Twitter account to boost his political fortunes. At this point, whatever.
DeSantis has spent recent weeks promoting monoclonal antibody treatments for those who are lucky enough to survive COVID, and deliberately not pushing vaccines.
More on DeSantis… The Evil Mouse Corporation has called his bluff. What is he going to do about it?
Do these guys even have $5 million? They’ll never stop until they’re behind bars.
Ken Paxton’s quasi-self pardon. Will Texas Republicans care?
That’s it for me for today. We’ll see you back here tomorrow. Tech support questions? Email support@substack.com. Questions for me? Drop me a line: swift@thebulwark.com
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Editorial photos provided by Getty Images. For full credits, please consult the article.