As noted in an earlier post, authoritarians deploy shock and sacred norms violations to freeze and fatigue their opponents who struggle in cognitive dissonance and disbelief.

Watched The Wailing this weekend. Brilliant companion piece to The Exorcist. Weird, creepy and nicely ambiguous.

While the stagnation of diplomacy led to assumptions that Assad was consolidating his rule in Syria, the regime had, in fact, been decaying and fragmenting from within, Charles Lister writes.

So lots of talk about Conan O'Brien hosting the 2025 Oscars, which will be the 97th Academy Awards. So it's easy to forget that at one point they were just a twinkle in my great-uncle Louis B Mayer's eye. Here's the actual dining room where he shared his idea for an industry awards after dinner.

"this is fine"

British Library Manuscript - royal ms 20 a ii f3r

Labour’s commitment to abolish hereditary peers is finally in motion, with the Bill advancing in Parliament. It’s a chance to bring the Lords closer to representing modern Britain, not a 17th-century aristocracy | Jenny Rhodes

How Musk broke Twitter and helped elect Trump
(Location: Tesla European HQ, Amsterdam)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX3v...

'Fiction opened my eyes': author Jodie Chapman on growing up as a Jehovah's Witness