Bongolian

Former computer programmer, former research scientist, current used #bookseller. I'm interested in #science and debunking #pseudoscience.

I support #tolerance, #civility, and #democracy.

Public Key

npub1ju0rlwu9ktjfvwcqnd3atmx9qfd5zqgcjrx0ycaszhu9hrsuuvcqpg5hku

NIP-05 Address

bongolian_at_mstdn.social@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsfw83lhwzm9eyk8vqfkc74anzsyk6pqyvfpn8jvwcpt7zm3cwwxvqpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsnk0law

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1ju0rlwu9ktjfvwcqnd3atmx9qfd5zqgcjrx0ycaszhu9hrsuuvcqpg5hku

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Last Notes

2026-07-26 03:31:52 UTC

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Ugh!

2026-07-11 23:06:08 UTC

Norman Eisen: Over 100 Judges Can’t be Wrong: Why Todd Blanche is Unfit to be Attorney General.
"Though you should never bet against the cowardice of the Trump majority in the Senate, Blanche’s disgraceful lack of ethics — including in his mishandling of the #Epstein files — has amply demonstrated why he should not get their votes."
#ToddBlanche #AttorneyGeneral #law #NewYork #ethics
https://www.contrariannews.org/p/over-100-judges-cant-be-wrong-why

2026-07-01 04:54:48 UTC

Adrian Carrasquillo: #tRump Lost on #Birthright Citizenship. But He’s Winning the #Immigration Wars. #SCOTUS rejected his brazen constitutional gambit—but cleared the way for potentially the largest revocation of legal immigration status in #American history.
#law
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-lost-on-birthright-citizenship-but-winning-immigration-wars
https://media.mstdn.social/media_attachments/files/116/842/926/873/123/368/original/988fdc67c357d3d4.png

2026-05-28 19:16:03 UTC

The Secret Court System That Rules Us All. Brendan Ballou discusses his new book, 'When Companies Run the Courts,' about the dangers of forced #arbitration proceedings, and how this shadow system took over America.
#US #corporation #law #TheContrarian #enshittification #business #SupremeCourt
https://www.contrariannews.org/p/brendan-ballou-forced-arbitration-book-companies-run-courts-interview

2026-05-25 04:55:57 UTC

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The depiction of the monster is poignant because:
1) The alignment problem of large language models has been depicted as a Lovecraftian monsters (Cthulhu) with a smiley-face tacked on as the human interface alignment.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/generative-ai-chatbots-chatgpt-safety-concerns
2) The recent booing of AI-promoter Eric Schmidt at a University of Arizona commencement ceremony every time he tried to pimp for #AI during his speech.
https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/932203/university-of-arizona-students-boo-eric-schmidt-ai-commencement
#Cthulhu #Lovecraft #EricSchmidt

2026-05-24 04:54:22 UTC

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I never actually saw the Costner movie, so the mockery stands on its own in Men In Tights. The external references in Blazing Saddles are so numerous and diverse that it's difficult for anyone to know what they all are without researching them.

2026-05-24 03:56:56 UTC

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He was excellent in his roles in Mel Brooks films:
Blazing Saddles
Silent Movie
Robin Hood: Men in Tights

2026-03-17 04:55:37 UTC

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Thiel had a warm-up lecture series in San Francisco on this topic last year, hoping to attract supportive techbros. The lectures were characterized by one critic as "meandering musings". He though Greta Thunberg or Eliezer Yudkowsky might be the antichrist (!), yet the characteristics for the antichrist that he gave sounded more like himself: "They can do it if they're young – or – get rich young, since 'money has this remarkable velocity.'"
#thiel #antichrist
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/10/peter-thiel-lectures-antichrist

2026-03-14 21:16:59 UTC

Hannah Harris Green: New study raises concerns about #AI #chatbots fueling delusional thinking. First major study on ‘AI #psychosis’ suggests chatbots can encourage delusions among vulnerable people
#aipsychosis #mentalhealth
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/mar/14/ai-chatbots-psychosis

2026-03-04 17:26:29 UTC

Matthew Taylor: Global #economy must stop pandering to ‘frivolous desires of ultra-rich’, says UN expert. Olivier De Schutter says new economic agenda needed to tackle crises of rising inequality and ecological collapse.
#billionaires #ecology #poverty
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/mar/03/un-de-schutter-outlines-plan-for-redistributive-global-economy

2026-02-26 16:08:53 UTC

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Voting is necessary but not sufficient. Other things that people should do to the extent that they can:
•Contact Congressional Reps with their concerns
•Peacefully protest (No Kings)
•Join and donate to major litigants against the regime (ACLU, NAACP's LDF, etc.)
•Donate to Democratic candidates
•Write an OpEd to your local news outlet if you have one
•Volunteer (e.g., Swing Left, Indivisible, Red2Blue, etc.)

2026-02-07 20:24:18 UTC

Katherine Stewart: The #Librarians, Our Unlikely Heroes. In a #documentary airing soon on #PBS, we meet people who risked their jobs and their safety to resist the wave of reactionary book-burners.
#film #review #TheContrarian #Libraries #censorship #fascism
https://contrarian.substack.com/p/the-librarians-our-unlikely-heroes
https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/documentaries/the-librarians/

2026-02-06 03:29:28 UTC

Tell #Congress: Reject the SAVE Act. The SAVE Act could block millions of American citizens from voting by requiring people to produce documents like a passport or birth certificate to register to vote. The Brennan Center’s research shows that 21 million Americans don’t have these documents readily available.
We should be protecting the freedom to vote, not restricting it. Congress should reject this anti-voter bill.
#SAVEAct #elections #civilrights
https://secure.brennancenter.org/secure/tell-congress-reject-save-act-1

2026-02-01 05:39:46 UTC

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It's a film that's awesome on the big screen in a movie theater.

2026-01-19 21:35:13 UTC

Anastasiia Kryvoruchenko: What Iran’s Theocracy Doesn’t Want You To See. Thousands of Iranians are dead from a crackdown on protests. The #Khamenei regime responded to mass protests with repression. Mohsen and Mohammad are working to keep the uprising alive abroad.
#Iran
https://www.counteroffensive.news/p/what-irans-theocracy-doesnt-want

2026-01-01 21:16:26 UTC

McKenzie Prillaman & Emily Conover: America risks losing its role as a space science pioneer. The uncertainty and instability of 2025 could cost the U.S. the next generation of #space scientists.
#NASA #US #trump #doge
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/america-space-spacex-nasa-planet-policy

2025-11-30 18:05:21 UTC

‘I have watched politicians failing yet and yet again’: lessons from a life as an #environment writer. Paul Brown looks back at his career reporting on the climate crisis, failed summit and #nuclear power – and how to do it well
#climateChange
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/28/after-a-career-as-an-environment-writer-heres-what-i-have-learned

2025-11-26 20:29:47 UTC

Tears flowed in S.F. courtroom as immigration judge was fired mid-hearing. The San Francisco judge said the “dismantling” of the immigration court was preceded by “inhumane” workloads and trauma-filled workdays.
#immigration #law #judiciary #SanFrancisco
https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/judge-shuting-chen-immigration-21207729.php

2025-11-17 18:03:03 UTC

Neha Singh, as told to Anuradha Nagaraj: ‘I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t breathe’
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2025/nov/17/india-heatwave-manesar-haryana-state-this-is-climate-breakdown
#ClimateChange #India

2025-11-07 18:29:48 UTC

Nina Lakhani: How thousands of fossil fuel lobbyists got access to #UN climate talks – and then kept drilling. Exclusive: Research shows oil, gas and #coal firms’ unprecedented access to Cop26-29, blocking urgent climate action
#COP29 #ClimateChange #fossilfuel #FossilLobby #corruption
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/07/fossil-fuel-lobbyists-cop-un-climate

2025-11-04 20:59:48 UTC

Jennifer Rubin: Words & Phrases We Could Do Without, 'Legal ethics'
"Courts over the last 10 months repeatedly have called out government lawyers for misrepresenting key facts. In September, the Justice Department had to confess that it widely misstated critical facts in an immigration case."
#law #ethics #doj
https://contrarian.substack.com/p/words-and-phrases-we-could-do-without-da8

2025-10-29 17:50:58 UTC

Mich Ciurria: UnKoch my #Philosophy Department: A Case Study in Billionaire #Philanthropy
" This essay examines the impact of billionaire philanthropy—particularly funding from the Koch Foundation—on my field of professional philosophy. I show that this funding has undermined democratic procedures and wreaked havoc on receiving departments. …"
https://www.aaup.org/JAF16/unkoch-my-philosophy-department-case-study-billionaire-philanthropy
#Koch #billionaires #libertarian #AcademicFreedom #universities

2025-10-24 03:01:33 UTC

Katrina Mikiah: #Jesus doesn’t belong to Christian Nationalism
"At a time when religion is being used to justify harm, those of us who see things differently — whether we call ourselves #Christian or not — must find the courage to speak. Not to divide, but to reclaim the heart of what we believe matters most: love, integrity, humility and the dignity of every human being."
#ChristianNationalism
https://www.au.org/the-latest/church-and-state/articles/jesus-doesnt-belong-to-christian-nationalism/

2025-10-14 22:00:35 UTC

Annie Vainshtein & David Hernandez: This Bay Area county has ousted its scandal-plagued sheriff in an historic vote
"The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted unanimously to remove Sheriff Christina Corpus from office effective immediately in a vote that marked a dramatic and historic culmination of a bitter saga that plunged the sheriff’s office into scandal. "
#SanMateo #sheriff #California #politics
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/san-mateo-sheriff-supervisors-vote-21100339.php

2025-10-11 18:00:32 UTC

Adrian Daub: Peter Thiel’s off-the-record antichrist lectures reveal more about him than Armageddon. Silicon Valley titan desperately tries to detach self from power in amateurish talks attempting to ape his favorite philosopher.
#PeterThiel #philosophy #antichrist #christianity #tech #SiliconValley
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ng-interactive/2025/oct/10/peter-thiel-antichrist-lectures

2025-10-08 17:22:56 UTC

Jennifer Rubin: Stephen Miller is the Poster Boy for the Rabid #MAGA Movement
The more voters see of him, the more repulsed they’ll be
#StephenMiller #TheContrarian #trump #autocracy
https://contrarian.substack.com/p/stephen-miller-is-the-poster-boy

2025-10-05 01:51:14 UTC

No Kings: Protest Safety, Know Your Rights & De-Escalation Training
"This training will give you the tools to take action safely, confidently, and with key de-escalation strategies in hand. Whether you're marching, rallying, or supporting from the sidelines, you'll learn how to protect yourself, your community, and stand up for your rights."
#ACLU #NoKings #protest #resistance
https://act.aclu.org/a/no-kings-kyr-eng1

2025-09-22 23:46:36 UTC

Shalise Manza Young: Josh Johnson is the new appointment viewing. The comedian, part storyteller and part philosopher, uses his own experiences to delve into #history, #politics, and pop culture.
@npub1dgr…mmu2 @npub1hmj…lehx #TheContrarian #JoshJohnson #comedy #popculture #philosophy
https://contrarian.substack.com/p/josh-johnson-is-the-new-appointment

2025-09-18 19:33:08 UTC

Christine Hitt: Hawaiians unite to buy back land from billionaire in a move never seen before. #Molokai residents want to return Hawaiian lands to Hawaiian hands.
#Hawaii #Indigenous #restoration
https://www.sfgate.com/hawaii/article/hawaiians-organize-buy-land-back-from-billionaire-21039366.php

2025-09-10 02:16:43 UTC

Erwin Chemerinsky: The Supreme Court's brazen approval of racial profiling. Any hope the court would be a check on the Trump administration seems lost.
"The Fourth Amendment requires reasonable suspicion before anyone—citizen or non-citizen, documented or undocumented—is stopped by law enforcement officers. The Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection prevents people from being stopped based on race."
1/2
#SupremeCourt #law #racism #TheContrarian
https://contrarian.substack.com/p/the-supreme-courts-brazen-approval

2025-09-05 20:32:17 UTC

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2/2
"AI is a cruel technology. It replaces workers, devours millions of gallons of water, vomits #CO2 into the atmosphere, propagandises exclusively for the worst ideologies, and fills the world with more ugliness and stupidity. Cruelty is the central tenet of right wing ideology." — Gareth Watkins
#propaganda #AI #climatechange #rightwing #fascism

2025-09-05 20:30:37 UTC

Gareth Watkins: #AI: The New Aesthetics of #Fascism. It's embarrassing, destructive, and looks like shit: AI-generated #art is the perfect #aesthetic form for the far right.
"The #Cybertruck – itself a work of anti-art that could only be the product of a mind addled by the far right – failed, largely because it is embarrassing to be seen in one."
1/2
#farright
https://newsocialist.org.uk/transmissions/ai-the-new-aesthetics-of-fascism/

2025-09-01 18:14:03 UTC

Miles Taylor: He *will* arrest his enemies. "Lock her up" was never just a slogan. #tRump is preparing to round up his rivals — and will obliterate the rule of law.
#authoritarianism #ruleoflaw
https://www.treason.io/p/read-he-will-arrest-his-enemies

2025-08-10 18:21:12 UTC

Bald eagles hatched in #Piedmont. It turned into a neighborhood reckoning with patriotism
#gift #baldeagle #eagles #California
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/bald-eagle-nest-piedmont-20786161.php?utm_content=hed&sid=57f2d62b1acbcdb5538b4a4e&ss=A&st_rid=98ebc417-046c-4639-bbc2-4643319705bc&utm_source=marketing&utm_medium=copy-url-link&utm_term=headlines&utm_campaign=article-share&hash=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc2ZjaHJvbmljbGUuY29tL2JheWFyZWEvYXJ0aWNsZS9iYWxkLWVhZ2xlLW5lc3QtcGllZG1vbnQtMjA3ODYxNjEucGhw&time=MTc1NDg0OTg4ODAzOQ%3D%3D&rid=OThlYmM0MTctMDQ2Yy00NjM5LWJiYzItNDY0MzMxOTcwNWJj&sharecount=NA%3D%3D

2025-06-21 18:32:46 UTC

#Harvard hired a researcher to uncover its ties to slavery. He says the results cost him his job: ‘We found too many slaves’. When the extent of the university’s involvement with slavery was unearthed, a scholar tracking descendants of enslaved workers was suddenly fired
"Firings, resignations and attempts to ‘dilute and delay’ research"
#slavery #history #genealogy
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2025/jun/21/harvard-slavery-decendants-of-the-enslaved

2025-06-18 02:02:24 UTC

The other parade: A cartoon by Nick Anderson.
#military #veterans #va #usmilitary
https://contrarian.substack.com/p/the-other-parade

2025-06-18 01:46:49 UTC

Katherine Stewart: Spiritual warfare and the roots of political violence: American #democracy is under attack from an authoritarian movement.
#authoritarianism #TheContrarian #Christianity #Pentecostalism
https://contrarian.substack.com/p/spiritual-warfare-and-the-roots-of

2025-06-17 18:33:38 UTC

Investigation: How #Russia steals Ukraine's trillion-dollar mineral wealth. Our investigation into how Russia has been destroying Ukrainian #coal mines revealed theft of equipment, illegal exports of #coal, and harsh treatment of workers.
#RussiaUkraineWar #crime #ClimateChange #Ukraine
https://www.counteroffensive.news/p/investigation-how-russia-steals-ukraines

2025-06-06 03:55:51 UTC

#tRump is punishing dissent: Miles Taylor speaks on tRump accusing him of treason: "If folks are quiet and they don't talk about that, it makes it so much easier for those bullies to come out of the woodwork and ruin people's lives"
#DHS #TheContrarian #whistleblowers #resistance #DOJ
https://contrarian.substack.com/p/trump-is-punishing-dissent-miles

2025-06-06 03:28:03 UTC

Jeff Nesbit: Canceled bird flu research is a recipe for disaster: The #tRump administration is woefully unprepared to deal with a #pandemic.
#birdflu #vaccines #rna #TheContrarian
https://contrarian.substack.com/p/canceled-bird-flu-research-is-a-recipe

2025-06-02 17:56:41 UTC

"Gestapo-Like Behavior" | Rep. Dan Goldman Confronts #ICE Officers Detaining Immigrants
"And my question to them is: If what you are doing is legitimate, is lawful, is totally above-board, why do you need to cover your face?"
#immigration #fascism #secretpolice #gestapo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH1ofHhhOUQ&t=216s

2025-05-30 18:14:15 UTC

Nina Lakhani: Carbon footprint of Israel’s war on #Gaza exceeds that of many entire countries. Exclusive: Climate cost of war is more than than the combined 2023 emissions of Costa Rica and Estonia, study finds
#Israel #ClimateChange
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/30/carbon-footprint-of-israels-war-on-gaza-exceeds-that-of-many-entire-countries

2025-05-10 15:36:29 UTC

Adam Morton: #Australia has backed a rapid shift to renewable energy – and given Labor a chance on climate. How will it act? After a landslide election win, there will never be a better chance to shake off old policy impasses and deliver a more ambitious plan for the environment.
#ClimateChange
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/commentisfree/2025/may/06/australia-has-backed-a-rapid-shift-to-renewable-energy-and-given-labor-a-chance-on-climate-how-will-it-act

2025-04-26 16:54:38 UTC

The Guardian renews its commitment to journalistic coverage of the climate crisis:
"The 89% project: Between 80 and 89% of the world’s people want their governments to be doing more to address climate change. The Guardian has partnered with Covering Climate Now and newsrooms across the globe to tell their stories"
#ClimateChange #TheGuardian #journalism #AFP #CoveringClimateNow #journalism
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/series/the-89-percent-project

2025-04-25 01:11:35 UTC

What’s happening to undocumented immigrants is not new to Black Americans: Latino migrants are the target now, but when #tRump suggested sending American citizens to El Salvador, alarm bells immediately went off for Black people.
#TheContrarian #immigration #elsalvador #disappeared #deportation #racism
https://contrarian.substack.com/p/whats-happening-to-undocumented-immigrants

2025-03-21 16:40:05 UTC

Ramon Antonio Vargas: ‘Hannibal Lecter’ treatment of Luigi Mangione ‘backfired’, says fundraising organizer: Authorities’ heavily armed ‘perp walk’ of alleged #UnitedHealthcare CEO shooter may have aided in raising more than $700,000
1/2
#LuigiMangione #Healthcare
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/21/fundraising-unitedhealth-ceo-shooting

2025-03-17 03:15:16 UTC

Ann Telnaes: Another shameful time in our nation's history
#MahmoudKhalil #anntelnaes #cartoons #freespeech #immigration
https://anntelnaes.substack.com/p/another-shameful-time-in-our-nations

2025-03-15 18:10:26 UTC

The Trump administration has illegally arrested and detained Mahmoud Khalil in direct retaliation for his advocacy in support of Palestinian rights. This egregious, unprecedented, and illegal abuse of power cannot go unchecked.
That's why I just joined the #ACLU in demanding that #ICE free Mahmoud Khalil.
http://aclu.org/khalil
#MahmoudKhalil #immigration #freespeech #Palestinians

2025-03-11 16:03:05 UTC

Moustafa Bayoumi: Mahmoud Khalil’s treatment should not happen in a #democracy: The Columbia University graduate’s arrest is an attempt to destroy free thinking while murdering due process
"Forced disappearance, kidnapping, political imprisonment, take your pick. These terms all describe what has happened under the #tRump administration’s first arrest for thought crimes, something that should never happen in a democracy."
#MahmoudKhalil #dueprocess #fascism
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/11/mahmoud-khalil-arrest-ice-columbia

2025-03-10 17:23:05 UTC

Hands Off Our Passports: Stop Attacking #Transgender Americans
From Day 1, the #tRump Administration has relentlessly attacked transgender people's basic freedoms. Now tRump's State Department is denying accurate passports to trans, intersex, and nonbinary people.
Tell the State Department: Everyone deserves accurate passports that match who we are. These attacks on trans, intersex, and nonbinary Americans must be stopped.
#ACLU #StateDepartment
https://action.aclu.org/reg-action/hands-off-our-passports-stop-attacking-transgender-americans

2025-02-16 08:45:18 UTC

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From the article on Canadians saving US government data, "Some commenters on social media liken the disappearing data to book burning in the 1930s." It could also be called a memory hole (from the book 1984).
#memoryhole #1984isnow #censorship #fascism #maga

2025-02-13 00:46:25 UTC

#Military Drops Recruiting Efforts at Prestigious #Black #Engineering Awards Event
#usmilitary #racism #hegseth #dei
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2025/02/10/military-drops-recruiting-efforts-prestigious-black-engineering-awards-event.html

2025-02-01 18:13:31 UTC

Lisa Song: The Rewriting of a Pioneering Female Astronomer’s Legacy Shows How Far tRump’s #DEI #Purge Will Go
#trump #censorship #science #memoryhole #astronomy #newspeak
https://www.propublica.org/article/vera-rubin-astronomer-dei-trump

2025-01-11 20:03:36 UTC

Cartoonist Ann Telnaes on the price of satire on #BBC World Service
Interview starts at around 13:05
#washingtonpost #censorship #AnnTelnaes
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w172zcxd9h8zkwr?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

2024-12-28 21:26:54 UTC

Baby-in-a-dumpster is effectively state GOP policy because they won't fund anything other than prosecutions of mothers and medical workers, and Christian grift at "crisis pregnancy centers".
‘Baby in a dumpster.’ A spate of abandoned newborns unsettles #Texas. Critics say these cases are no coincidence in a state with one of the nation’s most restrictive #abortion bans and near-bottom rankings on women’s health care.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/12/28/abandoned-baby-texas-abortion-ban/

2024-12-27 18:53:59 UTC

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From the link:
"In fall of 2023, for example, without consulting or informing the editors, Elsevier initiated the use of #AI during production, creating article proofs devoid of capitalization of all proper nouns (e.g., formally recognized epochs, site names, countries, cities, genera, etc.) as well italics for genera and species. These AI changes reversed the accepted versions of papers that had already been properly formatted by the handling editors. …"
@npub1fdr…lvhs #retractions

2024-12-22 18:18:05 UTC

Dana Hedgpeth et al.: More than 3,100 students died at schools built to crush Native American cultures
"The Washington Post has found more than three times as many deaths as the U.S. government documented in its investigation of Indian boarding schools."
#NativeAmerican #BoardingSchools
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2024/native-american-deaths-burial-sites-boarding-schools/

2024-12-13 18:39:14 UTC

Fareed Zakaria: #Russia is weaker than you think: Assad was a valuable client for Putin. And he couldn’t save him.
"The collapse of the Assad regime in Syria should be a reminder of a general truth that often gets obscured in the blizzard of conflicting and contradictory news stories that absorb us day to day: The West’s adversaries are often weaker than we think."
#gift
https://wapo.st/3ZDd8z1