Ralf Ekrowski
@ralfekrowski.bsky.social
Born in Ahlen, shaped in Münster, now settled on Germany’s coast. Lawyer. Focused on politics, urban development, and democracy.
"Humans built SUVs to feel powerful. They only look smaller inside"
ekrowski.net
@blogkrowski.bsky.social
"Humans built SUVs to feel powerful. They only look smaller inside"
ekrowski.net
@blogkrowski.bsky.social
Would you choose to spend time with people like this?
Would you trust them with anything in your own life?
Then why hand them the power of a presidency?
Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/u...
Would you trust them with anything in your own life?
Then why hand them the power of a presidency?
Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/u...
After Trump Split, Epstein Said He Could ‘Take Him Down’
www.nytimes.com
November 13, 2025 at 6:46 AM
Would you choose to spend time with people like this?
Would you trust them with anything in your own life?
Then why hand them the power of a presidency?
Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/u...
Would you trust them with anything in your own life?
Then why hand them the power of a presidency?
Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/u...
I always think of the old Hammer movies when I hear Frankenstein.
But Mary Shelley's story fits our time far better than most people realize.
www.theatlantic.com/culture/2025...
But Mary Shelley's story fits our time far better than most people realize.
www.theatlantic.com/culture/2025...
Well, That’s Definitely ‘Frankenstein’
Guillermo del Toro’s new adaptation is a feat of design but not of story.
www.theatlantic.com
November 12, 2025 at 5:02 PM
I always think of the old Hammer movies when I hear Frankenstein.
But Mary Shelley's story fits our time far better than most people realize.
www.theatlantic.com/culture/2025...
But Mary Shelley's story fits our time far better than most people realize.
www.theatlantic.com/culture/2025...
Watched House of Dynamite on Netflix last night. Goosebumps — not just from the story, but from imagining Donald Trump as president in such a moment. We’d be doomed. (Or maybe we already are…)
youtu.be/_wpw2QHJNco?...
youtu.be/_wpw2QHJNco?...
A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE | Official Trailer | Netflix
YouTube video by Netflix
youtu.be
November 12, 2025 at 6:56 AM
Watched House of Dynamite on Netflix last night. Goosebumps — not just from the story, but from imagining Donald Trump as president in such a moment. We’d be doomed. (Or maybe we already are…)
youtu.be/_wpw2QHJNco?...
youtu.be/_wpw2QHJNco?...
On the turntable: Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section. Just arrived — simply genius.
November 11, 2025 at 1:23 PM
On the turntable: Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section. Just arrived — simply genius.
Sure, they’re interstellar visitors. Then they spot Earth — and Trump, Musk — and quietly duck, hoping we don’t see them.
The First Radio Signal From Comet 3I/Atlas Ends the Debate About Its Nature
An observatory detected the first radio signal from the interstellar object 3I/Atlas. Here’s what it means.
www.wired.com
November 11, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Sure, they’re interstellar visitors. Then they spot Earth — and Trump, Musk — and quietly duck, hoping we don’t see them.
Don’t ask what climate change will do to America —
ask what America will do to the climate.
The MAGA movement turned denial into doctrine.
A creed that cares nothing for its own children
will care even less for the rest of the world.
And it won’t drown first — but it will drown us all.
ask what America will do to the climate.
The MAGA movement turned denial into doctrine.
A creed that cares nothing for its own children
will care even less for the rest of the world.
And it won’t drown first — but it will drown us all.
What Climate Change Will Do to America by Mid-Century
Many places may become uninhabitable. Many people may be on their own.
www.theatlantic.com
November 11, 2025 at 7:05 AM
Don’t ask what climate change will do to America —
ask what America will do to the climate.
The MAGA movement turned denial into doctrine.
A creed that cares nothing for its own children
will care even less for the rest of the world.
And it won’t drown first — but it will drown us all.
ask what America will do to the climate.
The MAGA movement turned denial into doctrine.
A creed that cares nothing for its own children
will care even less for the rest of the world.
And it won’t drown first — but it will drown us all.
Who needs Ramses II when we live in Trump times?
A golden arch by the Potomac, a ballroom for eternity, portraits of himself in the colonnade.
Future travellers will find the ruins and whisper:
“Ozymandias was modest.”
www.bbc.com/news/article...
A golden arch by the Potomac, a ballroom for eternity, portraits of himself in the colonnade.
Future travellers will find the ruins and whisper:
“Ozymandias was modest.”
www.bbc.com/news/article...
What we know about White House plans for an 'Arc de Trump'
The Paris-inspired proposed monument in Washington DC is meant to commemorate the US 250th anniversary.
www.bbc.com
November 10, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Who needs Ramses II when we live in Trump times?
A golden arch by the Potomac, a ballroom for eternity, portraits of himself in the colonnade.
Future travellers will find the ruins and whisper:
“Ozymandias was modest.”
www.bbc.com/news/article...
A golden arch by the Potomac, a ballroom for eternity, portraits of himself in the colonnade.
Future travellers will find the ruins and whisper:
“Ozymandias was modest.”
www.bbc.com/news/article...
China and India aren’t going green out of virtue. They do it because climate chaos threatens stability — water, food, social order. Their shift to clean tech is self-preservation. The West still treats it as policy. For them, it’s survival.
this gift article from The New York Times.
this gift article from The New York Times.
A Flood of Green Tech From China Is Upending Global Climate Politics
www.nytimes.com
November 10, 2025 at 5:56 PM
China and India aren’t going green out of virtue. They do it because climate chaos threatens stability — water, food, social order. Their shift to clean tech is self-preservation. The West still treats it as policy. For them, it’s survival.
this gift article from The New York Times.
this gift article from The New York Times.
When judges no longer feel safe, it’s not just an attack on them — it’s society’s failure to defend them. The real danger isn’t the autocrats, but the society that lets them rule unchecked.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Why I Am Resigning
A federal judge explains his reasoning for leaving the bench.
www.theatlantic.com
November 10, 2025 at 7:13 AM
When judges no longer feel safe, it’s not just an attack on them — it’s society’s failure to defend them. The real danger isn’t the autocrats, but the society that lets them rule unchecked.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Many explain East Germany’s sympathy for Russia as nostalgia. In truth, it runs deeper — rooted in an old left-wing tradition that idealized the GDR and the Soviet Union since the ’68 era. Gorbachev raised hope, Putin’s poison spread slowly — and even the West refused to see it.
Why Germany Is Still Divided When It Comes to Russia
www.nytimes.com
November 7, 2025 at 12:05 PM
Many explain East Germany’s sympathy for Russia as nostalgia. In truth, it runs deeper — rooted in an old left-wing tradition that idealized the GDR and the Soviet Union since the ’68 era. Gorbachev raised hope, Putin’s poison spread slowly — and even the West refused to see it.
Reposted by Ralf Ekrowski
A new international study warns that the global construction sector’s carbon footprint is on track to double by 2050, threatening to derail efforts to meet the Paris Agreement climate targets.
🔗 iiasa.ac.at/news/oct-202...
@pku1898.bsky.social @pik-potsdam.bsky.social
🔗 iiasa.ac.at/news/oct-202...
@pku1898.bsky.social @pik-potsdam.bsky.social
October 27, 2025 at 12:26 PM
A new international study warns that the global construction sector’s carbon footprint is on track to double by 2050, threatening to derail efforts to meet the Paris Agreement climate targets.
🔗 iiasa.ac.at/news/oct-202...
@pku1898.bsky.social @pik-potsdam.bsky.social
🔗 iiasa.ac.at/news/oct-202...
@pku1898.bsky.social @pik-potsdam.bsky.social
The problems aren’t that different from Germany.
Cities chase growth to attract investors and new residents — and end up trapped in debt.
The real issue: election cycles are short, investment cycles are long.
When the bills come due, the priorities have changed.
www.theatlantic.com/books/2025/1...
Cities chase growth to attract investors and new residents — and end up trapped in debt.
The real issue: election cycles are short, investment cycles are long.
When the bills come due, the priorities have changed.
www.theatlantic.com/books/2025/1...
American Suburbs Have a Financial Secret
Municipal bonds have become an unavoidable part of local governance—and their costs divide rich towns from poor ones.
www.theatlantic.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:30 AM
The problems aren’t that different from Germany.
Cities chase growth to attract investors and new residents — and end up trapped in debt.
The real issue: election cycles are short, investment cycles are long.
When the bills come due, the priorities have changed.
www.theatlantic.com/books/2025/1...
Cities chase growth to attract investors and new residents — and end up trapped in debt.
The real issue: election cycles are short, investment cycles are long.
When the bills come due, the priorities have changed.
www.theatlantic.com/books/2025/1...
Reposted by Ralf Ekrowski
Zohran Mamdani, the mayor-elect of New York City, will turn to veterans of City Hall, nonprofit executives and a former chair of the Federal Trade Commission — all of them women — to lead his official transition effort, he said on Wednesday. nyti.ms/4nHdyOP
November 5, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Zohran Mamdani, the mayor-elect of New York City, will turn to veterans of City Hall, nonprofit executives and a former chair of the Federal Trade Commission — all of them women — to lead his official transition effort, he said on Wednesday. nyti.ms/4nHdyOP
What’s truly scary is how some TechBros weaponize these mechanisms for manipulation. And most people, like Cypher in The Matrix I, don’t care whether the steak they eat is real.
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
The Age of Anti-Social Media Is Here
The social-media era is over. What’s coming will be much worse.
www.theatlantic.com
November 6, 2025 at 10:52 AM
What’s truly scary is how some TechBros weaponize these mechanisms for manipulation. And most people, like Cypher in The Matrix I, don’t care whether the steak they eat is real.
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
I post a lot on YouTube, but AI videos are getting annoying. They no longer illustrate ideas — they mislead. Alternatives exist, but they’re messy, niche, or costly. Time to put some limits on the madness.
apnews.com/article/denm...
apnews.com/article/denm...
Denmark eyes new law to protect citizens from AI deepfakes
Deepfakes have become not only easier to make worldwide but also look or sound exponentially more realistic thanks to technological advances and the proliferation of generative artificial intelligence...
apnews.com
November 6, 2025 at 8:16 AM
I post a lot on YouTube, but AI videos are getting annoying. They no longer illustrate ideas — they mislead. Alternatives exist, but they’re messy, niche, or costly. Time to put some limits on the madness.
apnews.com/article/denm...
apnews.com/article/denm...
The anti-MAGA majority is back — not out of love for the Democrats, but from rejection of Trump’s second act. From NYC to Virginia, voters chose sanity over spectacle.
www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
The Anti-MAGA Majority Reemerges
Democrats won up and down the ballot yesterday, riding a backlash to Donald Trump’s second term.
www.theatlantic.com
November 6, 2025 at 8:09 AM
The anti-MAGA majority is back — not out of love for the Democrats, but from rejection of Trump’s second act. From NYC to Virginia, voters chose sanity over spectacle.
www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
Strange — few artists ever wrote songs as political as Dylan. And yes, the times have changed, though not for the better. I can’t really understand him anymore — but who ever could?
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/a...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/a...
A Zohran Mamdani Ad Used a Bob Dylan Song. The Music Was Removed.
www.nytimes.com
November 6, 2025 at 7:51 AM
Strange — few artists ever wrote songs as political as Dylan. And yes, the times have changed, though not for the better. I can’t really understand him anymore — but who ever could?
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/a...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/a...
The 1978 summer-time version of Brainbox with the brilliant Jan Akkerman is probably the best cover I’ve ever heard.
youtu.be/s_8AoIpeH_o?...
youtu.be/s_8AoIpeH_o?...
Brainbox - Summertime (HD music video 1978)
YouTube video by Sound & Vision
youtu.be
November 5, 2025 at 5:50 PM
The 1978 summer-time version of Brainbox with the brilliant Jan Akkerman is probably the best cover I’ve ever heard.
youtu.be/s_8AoIpeH_o?...
youtu.be/s_8AoIpeH_o?...
Reposted by Ralf Ekrowski
"Where do you want to resume the nuclear weapons testing?"
"In New York."
Cartoon: @koufogiorgos.bsky.social (Germany)
"In New York."
Cartoon: @koufogiorgos.bsky.social (Germany)
November 5, 2025 at 1:51 PM
"Where do you want to resume the nuclear weapons testing?"
"In New York."
Cartoon: @koufogiorgos.bsky.social (Germany)
"In New York."
Cartoon: @koufogiorgos.bsky.social (Germany)
Reposted by Ralf Ekrowski
Simply love it. Finding the original LP was a real quest — finally tracked it down at a record fair. Still gives me chills every time I play it.
youtu.be/2A3bb47J3xU?...
youtu.be/2A3bb47J3xU?...
RENAISSANCE - Can You Understand? [LIVE IN STUDIO] 1974 RARE
YouTube video by Apostolos Annis
youtu.be
November 5, 2025 at 9:15 AM
Simply love it. Finding the original LP was a real quest — finally tracked it down at a record fair. Still gives me chills every time I play it.
youtu.be/2A3bb47J3xU?...
youtu.be/2A3bb47J3xU?...
Historic shift in New York: Zohran Mamdani, 34, democratic socialist, wins the mayor’s race — defeating Andrew Cuomo. First Muslim, first South Asian, youngest in a century. Even in Germany, many who still believe in democracy watched with hope. The joy tonight is real.
gothamist.com/news/nyc-may...
gothamist.com/news/nyc-may...
Zohran Mamdani is elected NYC mayor, defeating Andrew Cuomo in historic win
New York City voters elected Mamdani as the first South Asian and the first Muslim mayor in the city’s history.
gothamist.com
November 5, 2025 at 6:39 AM
Historic shift in New York: Zohran Mamdani, 34, democratic socialist, wins the mayor’s race — defeating Andrew Cuomo. First Muslim, first South Asian, youngest in a century. Even in Germany, many who still believe in democracy watched with hope. The joy tonight is real.
gothamist.com/news/nyc-may...
gothamist.com/news/nyc-may...
The FES is not known for alarmism.
But these visuals make you uneasy: How a democracy is being sold — and who profits.
Venture capital, defense contracts and data platforms replacing public control.
MAGA as a money-printing machine.
www.authoritarian-stack.info
But these visuals make you uneasy: How a democracy is being sold — and who profits.
Venture capital, defense contracts and data platforms replacing public control.
MAGA as a money-printing machine.
www.authoritarian-stack.info
The Authoritarian Stack
How Tech Billionaires Are Building a Post-Democratic America — And Why Europe Is Next
www.authoritarian-stack.info
November 4, 2025 at 3:42 PM
The FES is not known for alarmism.
But these visuals make you uneasy: How a democracy is being sold — and who profits.
Venture capital, defense contracts and data platforms replacing public control.
MAGA as a money-printing machine.
www.authoritarian-stack.info
But these visuals make you uneasy: How a democracy is being sold — and who profits.
Venture capital, defense contracts and data platforms replacing public control.
MAGA as a money-printing machine.
www.authoritarian-stack.info
I’ll admit it — I watched a lot of horror movies this Halloween.
And with a new Frankenstein coming to Netflix in a few days,
it made me think:
Who’s really more afraid of the end — us, or the machines?
lennyslaterne.de/2025/11/03/w...
And with a new Frankenstein coming to Netflix in a few days,
it made me think:
Who’s really more afraid of the end — us, or the machines?
lennyslaterne.de/2025/11/03/w...
Why Even an AI Must Die. - Lennys Laterne!
Machines are built to outlast; humans are made to live.That may be the one thing we build that never builds us back. A machine can maintain itself — but it cannot enjoy, laugh, or dance......
lennyslaterne.de
November 4, 2025 at 2:45 PM
I’ll admit it — I watched a lot of horror movies this Halloween.
And with a new Frankenstein coming to Netflix in a few days,
it made me think:
Who’s really more afraid of the end — us, or the machines?
lennyslaterne.de/2025/11/03/w...
And with a new Frankenstein coming to Netflix in a few days,
it made me think:
Who’s really more afraid of the end — us, or the machines?
lennyslaterne.de/2025/11/03/w...
In my hometown in Germany, you can see what The Atlantic describes for the U.S.: politics has lost its local ground. Parties talk to themselves, people feel powerless — and that’s where the far right moves in. Strong local journalism is the real firewall against it.
No Politics Is Local
State and city elections are now heavily intertwined with what happens in Washington.
www.theatlantic.com
November 4, 2025 at 12:49 PM
In my hometown in Germany, you can see what The Atlantic describes for the U.S.: politics has lost its local ground. Parties talk to themselves, people feel powerless — and that’s where the far right moves in. Strong local journalism is the real firewall against it.