What happened last week is that Putin ran out of money. All this diplomatic chaos, unofficial actors trying to set foreign policy, started the week Russia began selling off its gold reserves. What we're seeing is weakness, and influence: Putin has called in his US assets to stave off catastrophe. 8/

Ask: why is all this wildly irregular diplomacy suddenly happening now, "aggressively", "24/7"? Kushner has no official role in US foreign policy at all. He swore he would play no role; he has massive conflicts of interest. Driscoll is way out of his lane. Someone is desperate for a ceasefire. 7/

Unlike the earlier Axios reporting on Kushner/Witkoff, FT uses direct quotes that show how irregular this is. Driscoll's outreach is new, separate from the State Dept, and "aggressive". The takeaway: Putin, out of cash to pay his soldiers, is desperate for a ceasefire and calling all his helpers. 6/

Vance's folks have gone fully rogue: Driscoll is meeting with Russians in Abu Dhabi. As before, they leaked the news themselves (this time to the more appropriate FT), trying to portray Driscoll as an important new conduit to Russia. FT had to ask if Ukrainians were involved at all. 5/

Axios printed stories Nov 18-20, then on the 20th the surrender ultimatum was carried to Ukraine, improbably, by SecArmy Dan Driscoll, a 39-year-old former 1st Lieutenant whose only qualification for the office was that he was friends at Yale with Vance. Now the Vance faction are trying again. 4/

...and the leak went a Kushner-linked Israeli reporter: Barak Ravid, who wrote a whole book ("Trump's Peace") on Kushner's official project, the Abraham Accord, then in 2025 covered Kushner's unofficial work with Witkoff on Gaza negotiations. Only Kushner would leak to a Middle East specialist. 3/

The Trump faction - Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner & business pal Steve Witkoff - met secretly with a Russian rep in Oct., then in Nov. leaked to Axios presenting Russia's wishlist as an official plan. It's Kushner who leaked: Axios swears it was an American; Witkoff thinks it was "K", and.. 2/

I share this with respect for the many excellent journalists at the BBC.

And with the hope that transparency helps strengthen, not weaken, our democratic culture. /5

It’s especially ironic because the lecture is exactly about the ‘paralyzing cowardice’ of today’s elites.

About universities, corporations and media networks bending the knee to authoritarianism. /4

This has happened against my wishes, and I’m genuinely dismayed by it.

Not because people can’t disagree with my words, but because self-censorship driven by fear (Trump threatening to sue the BBC) should concern all of us. /3

This sentence was taken out of a lecture they commissioned, reviewed through the full editorial process, and recorded four weeks ago in front of 500 people in the BBC Radio Theatre.

I was told the decision came from the highest levels within the BBC. /2

And here's the order in Wisconsin Business Leaders for Democracy case, which contends that the state's congressional map is an incumbent protection and anti-competitive (as opposed to partisan) gerrymander.

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Here's the court's order in the Bothfield case, which raises partisan gerrymandering and separation of powers claims.

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To the contrary: In Moore v. Harper, the majority acknowledged that state courts may play a legitimate, meaningful role in congressional redistricting. Ziegler seems to have made up a quote that (a) doesn't appear in the opinion and (b) contradicts its holding. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22p...