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Jon Fasman

@jonfasman.bsky.social
7.2K followers 359 following 566 posts

Senior culture correspondent, The Economist. Podcaster: "The Intelligence", "Checks and Balance". Ex-DC, Singapore, Atlanta, London, Moscow, Providence. Author: "The Geographer's Library," "The Unpossessed City," "We See It All".

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Reposted by Jon Fasman
Andrew Sissons @acjsissons.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
In my recent “is AI going to end the world?” conversations with normies, I’ve mostly said “i’m not sure about extinction but we might have to stop using the internet” and people’s reactions are mostly, like, “oh ok, fine”. Which is a pretty damning indictment of the great technology of our age
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The Economist @economist.com · 27/09/2026
Previous experience is not necessary for our foreign internships. Anyone is welcome to apply: see the ad below for more details
bit.ly
Paid interns on The Economist’s foreign desk
An opportunity to write for The Economist
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Jon Fasman @jonfasman.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This is quite an ad. Makes me wonder why it didn’t come out until now. Marshall first ran for Congress a decade ago.
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Anton Gerashchenko @antongerashchenko.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Instead of a thousand words. Pavlo, a Ukrainian Defender who has returned from Russian captivity, takes down his picture from a wall of missing and captives. He spent 50 months in Russian captivity. That's over four years.... 📷: iamslimaa/Threads
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The Economist @economist.com · 23/09/2026
Alaska is experiencing an outsized impact from White House policies. Democrats hope that combination will lift them to victory
bit.ly
Want to flip the Senate? Try fish and charisma
Democrats in Alaska hope personal appeal, idiosyncratic politics and presidential missteps will win a crucial seat
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The Economist @economist.com · 16/09/2026
For the Democratic “affordability” agenda’s most vexing problem, Zohran Mamdani has a simple formula: squeeze landlords and woo developers bit.ly/4cLCBh2 Photo: Lloyd Mitchell
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Edward Wong @ewong.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
NEW: US intelligence reports warn China could acquire US warplane technology if Trump continues with his F-35 jet sales to Saudi Arabia. The Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency has raised concerns about China's military partnership with the Saudis. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/09/16/u...
nytimes.com
U.S. Intelligence Warns of China Theft Over Sale of F-35 Jets to Saudis (Gift Article)
Internal reports, including one from the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency, say China could acquire U.S. jet technology through spying or cooperation with Saudi Arabia.
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Dean Frey @dean.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
For Lauren Bacall’s birthday: Benjamin Schwartz New Yorker, May 29, 2023
Description: A woman gives instructions on how to find a video to learn how to whistle.

Caption: "You know how to whistle, don't you? You just go to YouTube, search 'whistle how to,' and it's like the third video from the top."
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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
“The world is moving to a post-American order because of affirmative choices made by Donald Trump and the Republican Party. None of this was caused by external events or dialectical forces.” open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
open.substack.com
The American Age Is Over. (For sure.) The AI Apocalypse Is Here. (Maybe.)
The weekend the world changed.
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 14/09/2026
Some details: Kremlev, the Russian who sponsored Don Jr's wedding, is a former member of the Night Wolves biker gang, went to China with Putin and is personally sanctioned by Ukraine for his role in abducting children www.propublica.org/article/dona...
propublica.org
Donald Trump Jr.’s Wedding Bankrolled by Putin-Linked Russian Oligarch
The oligarch, Umar Kremlev, spent hundreds of thousands on expenses like renting out a private island. He appears to have met Trump Jr. only recently, but he attended the intimate wedding with a large...
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Emilio M Bruna @brunalab.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
This is nuclear. I don’t think any of my i ternational students *didn’t* go OPT after graduation. This is a very clever way to decimate US science AND higher ed simultanously.
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Jon Fasman @jonfasman.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Bun DMC. The Meatles. Eggadeth.
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Jon Fasman @jonfasman.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
This will make us poorer and worse off for generations. Even if it doesn’t pass or a Dem repeals it in 2028, why would any clever, ambitious student risk it being reinstated?
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Enough Of That Now @andygilder.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Trump becomes the first orange man to support a united Ireland
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Gareth Dennis @garethdennis.uk · 12/09/2026
UK rail infrastructure is expensive because we barely build any of it, not the other way around.
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The Bulwark @thebulwark.com · 12/09/2026
Back then, Bush and Giuliani were right when they affirmed that American Muslims are simply fellow Americans—and today’s Trump-radicalized GOP is wrong. It’s as simple as that.
lnk.thebulwark.com
How the Right Came to Embrace Anti-Muslim Bigotry
After the terrorist attacks of September 11th, Republican leaders opposed anti-Muslim sentiment. But the right’s worst instincts won.
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Julian Sanchez @normative.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Remember kids, communism isn’t when the government owns the means of production. It’s when someone with blue hair tells you their pronouns, as Karl Marx demanded.
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William B. Fuckley @opinionhaver.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
yeah let's not rewrite history on this (this is an L i'll eat as well). Fetterman was the populist progressive candidate. Connor Lamb was the centrist establishment candidate. Connor Lamb would have been better.
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Aliette de Bodard @aliettedebodard.com · 10/09/2026
This is worth a read because it eviscerates the narration of "AI solved complex mathematical problems, we can now retire mathematicians" that's currently being pushed by the AI companies. (and in general please remain sceptical of any claims to independent thinking or intent by LLMs)
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Michael Burchert @michaelburchert.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
The climate debate is overly fixated on high-tech geological carbon storage. This obsession neglects the massive, immediate leverage we have in the bioeconomy and resource-efficient construction. Bio-based materials are NOT inferior carbon sinks.
Dense jumbo straw bales on a truckHighest straw-timber house with ecococon panels in Hyllie, Sweden.
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Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
It's Sept. 9, 2026, which means it's the 25th anniversary of our 9/11 experience. Because for us, the story starts on the Sunday evening before the attack. Here are four emails I wrote to friends, colleagues and family shortly after 9/11, and in the months that followed. medium.com/@BGrueskin/o...
medium.com
Our 9/11 Year, in Four Long Emails
Report From NYC, Chapter 1, Sept 22, 2001
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The Washington Sun @washingtonsun.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Welcome to The Washington Sun. washingtonsun.com
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Julian Sanchez @normative.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
I really wish more Dems would go meta on this and ask whose interests it serves that candidates for the United States Senate are being asked about how they would micromanage the eligibility rules for local youth sports leagues.
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onekade @onekade.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Cool www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
As part of the appeals process, a member of a three-judge panel had cast the ballroom as illustrative of the Administration’s “move fast and break things” approach. “If the government decides, very quickly, to bulldoze the Statue of Liberty,” the judge asked, “nothing can be done?”

“I think that’s right, yes,” a lawyer for the Administration responded.
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Jon Fasman @jonfasman.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
The unerring ability of JFK Airport to find novel ways to make departing, arriving and being in an airport miserable every time never ceases to amaze me.
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David Burbach 🇺🇸 @dburbach.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
If the President of Harvard had posted what Elon did, an armed DOJ anti-Semitism strike force would already be on the way to seize the campus If just a random Harvard undergrad had posted it, DOJ would cut off its grants and launch an investigation
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Jon Fasman @jonfasman.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
This one really hurts. RIP open.spotify.com/track/7fq8a2...
open.spotify.com
Time After Time
Cassandra Wilson · Traveling Miles · Song · 1999
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David Rennie @dsorennie.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
The Ukraine war’s costs are rising for both Russia and Ukraine. That’s not changing the calculations of leaders on each side. The result is deadlock, as Ukraine’s allies brace for a long war and 50 years of confrontation with Russia. My column from Sweden economist.com/internationa...
economist.com
The Ukraine war is intensifying, expanding and stuck
The bleak view from Sweden, a Ukrainian ally braced for 50 years of confrontation with Russia
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Robin Wigglesworth @robinwigglesworth.ft.com · 02/09/2026
ooof www.ft.com/content/c74c...
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Maria Farrell @mariafarrell.eurosky.social · 02/09/2026
This by @timharford.ft.com made my day: 1) about bookshops 2) delighted to have been proved wrong 3) not snobby about other genres: "romantasy readers are nerds. It is great to see nerds well served." 4) close to my heart: "Pluralism is vital in a world where the right way forward is never obvious."
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Henry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · 01/09/2026
A liberal is a conservative who just got mugged by the police
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Ryan Pollard @ryanpollard.ca · 01/09/2026
I went to the Vernon Cadet Training Centre as a kid. I also know the woman on the right. we volunteered with kids together, she is a model citizen. this shit is sickening.
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Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Democrats are screwing up the US-Canada relationship and their own political best interests by not clearly committing to undo Trump’s actions here. www.slowboring.com/p/democrats-...
slowboring.com
Democrats should vow to surrender in the Canada trade war
Good politics, good policy, and the search for a peaceful world require complete repudiation of this nonsense.
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HOPE not hate @hopenothate.org.uk · 31/08/2026
And the biggest howler: Reform’s geniuses in Kent were apparently able to repaint a fence, trim the verge, plant grass seed (and get it to grow instantly), redo the pavement and repave the road all so quickly that the car in the top-right corner didn’t move an inch! Amazing!
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Matt Steinglass @mattsteinglass.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Putin seems to have decided to escalate. It's unclear what more he can do, perhaps not much. But there's a reason we start this piece with his wacky comment about orcas eating bears. It's not just goofy insanity from a dictator; it's kind of revealing. (gift link) 1/x
economist.com
Cornered, Vladimir Putin plans to escalate his war
His refusal to back down is rooted in Russia’s gangster politics
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Oliver Morton, Eater of Sun @eaterofsun.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Happy to have played a small part in helping this piece into print. www.economist.com/by-invitatio...
economist.com
The world may have less time than it thinks on climate change
If it is affecting circulation patterns that determine how and where anticyclones form, it could accelerate alarmingly, warns Tim Palmer
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The Economist @economist.com · 30/08/2026
“The uncomfortable truth is that Europe must accept greater risk in the short term to avoid far more serious dangers in the future,” says Radek Sikorski, Poland’s foreign minister, in a guest essay. “Our objective cannot be merely to avoid escalation”
bit.ly
Europe cannot protect Russia from itself
Fear of Vladimir Putin going fully rogue has paralysed the West for long enough, writes Radek Sikorski
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Micah @rincewind.run · 30/08/2026
re: everyone yelling about Google Maps - Maps just ingests the official data source for each country, which is GNIS in this case, and most other online maps will follow for American users nobody at Google is making an active decision to go in and change names in Maps directly
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Rapporteur @euractiv.com · 30/08/2026
Iceland rejects EU
dlvr.it
Iceland rejects EU
The 'no' campaign looks all but guaranteed to win the referendum, after wooing by Brussels
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Corky Siemaszko @corkysiemaszko.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
www.nbcnews.com/world/middle...
nbcnews.com
Palestinian woman and NBC News team attacked by masked Israeli settlers in West Bank
The woman and crew were treated for injuries. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he condemned the violence committed “by a handful of rioters.”
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Asha Rangappa @asharangappa.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
For reference: When I had my background check it was held up because I had a speeding ticket from when I went home sophomore year in college that I forgot to put on my SF-86. I got grilled about why I didn’t disclose it (they eventually believed it was mistake). The FBI as we knew it is gone.
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Jon Fasman @jonfasman.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
I think FDR is great; I don’t know why he thinks FDR is great.
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The Economist @economist.com · 27/08/2026
“Time for me to fly…” From a one-room shack to heart of the nation. On “The Intelligence” Jon Fasman celebrates the brilliance of Dolly Parton bit.ly/46pJ3GR
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Jon Fasman @jonfasman.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
This makes the acronym SHAME instead of HOMES www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...
reuters.com
Trump signs order to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America
U.S. President Donald Trump renamed Lake Ontario "Lake America" on Thursday, escalating a feud with Canada that has already ​spawned tariffs on tens of billions of dollars in cross-border ‌trade.
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Alexander Clarkson @aphclarkson.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Anyone with awareness of Canadian history would know that fear of becoming overly dependent on the US has been a core theme of Canada's political discourse since its emergence as a distinct society in the 1780s Trump has only confirmed fears of American arrogance that were around for two centuries
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Lane Greene @lanegreene.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Our newsletters have become a major part of who we are as a magazine now, written with a bit more colour, personality and digression than the articles in the core magazine can usually have. This is a fun job, and I hope someone awesome—maybe one of you—will get it.
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Archie Hall @archiehall.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
"America will regret Scott Bessent's bond-market misadventures" New @economist.com leader from me, on whether America has just taken a first, tentative step towards a politicised Treasury market and financial repression. You can read here: www.economist.com/leaders/2026...
economist.com
America will regret Scott Bessent’s bond-market misadventures
But expect them to continue, so long as government debt stays high
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Julian Sanchez @normative.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
This is basically right-wing Lysenkoism. There’s no “conservative science” or “socialist science.” There’s just science, and people who want to hijack the prestige of science on behalf of ideology.
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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
I appreciate that Dolly Parton refused to participate in "dress respectability" and, by her own account, modeled her aesthetic after a town "tramp," who she thought was beautiful. She separated aesthetics from character and understood "classiness" to be about how you treat people, not how you dress.
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Mona Burns @monaburns.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Chris Murphy today: "This morning in Danbury, ICE was arresting parents at school bus stops. But it’s more sinister. ICE waited until the kids were on the bus so when they are dropped off at the end of the day, they are alone, scared to death they can’t find their parents. I’m heading to Danbury."
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