iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Mark R. Stoneman @markstoneman.com · 20/09/2026

Roy Cohn, the gift that keeps on giving.… BTW, “Gift” in German means “poison.”

Text Shot: Above all, Trump learned one very big thing from Cohn: that the veneer of morality in the American upper class is very thin. Cohn proved conclusively that there is no limit to its tolerance for corruption. Trump got that message—and so did Jeffrey Epstein.

—Fintan O’Toole, “Devils in America,"The New York Review of Books, Oct. 8, 2026, 12.

Mark R. Stoneman @markstoneman.com · 24/08/2026

Taken with my iPhone SE 3rd gen in panorama mode on the Boulder Loop Trail in Albany, NH, on Sat. The elevation gain to the top is only about 925 feet, but that was meaningful for me. It’d been too long since I walked on granite ledges with a view. stoneman.blog/boulder-loop-1

Short trees and shrubs on granite ledges in milder weather than they often face. Green trees below, a mountain in the distance. Gray sky.

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Mark R. Stoneman @markstoneman.com · 21/06/2026

"'Loaded them up like convicts': The wife of a man seized in a massive Penza enlistment raid on how he was sent to war against his will." en.zona.media/article/2026/0… #RussoUkrainianWar #RussiaIsATerroristState #PressGangs

Text Shot: “The cops, together with the enlistment office,” are driving around towns in minibuses, “stopping everyone and taking them away,” people warn one another on social media.

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Mark R. Stoneman @markstoneman.com · 09/06/2026

What I realized about life under Russian occupation as a war crimes researcher kyivindependent.com/what-i-realize…

Text Shot: Perhaps the most psychologically devastating part is that occupation forces people to constant moral compromise.

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Mark R. Stoneman @markstoneman.com · 09/06/2026

What I realized about life under Russian occupation as a war crimes researcher kyivindependent.com/what-i-realize…

Text Shot: Under occupation, reality becomes dominated by fear. And fear erodes trust. Some people collaborate with Russian authorities and report neighbors they suspect of supporting Ukraine or having ties to Ukrainian forces. Since danger can come from anywhere, people isolate and start to suspect everyone around them. It feels like nowhere, and no one is safe.

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Mark R. Stoneman @markstoneman.com · 20/05/2026

Grandmother and granddaughter on May 1, 2026 – photo by Anke Stoneman

Two pair of shoes worn by humans laying in the grass, one pair from an adult, the other from a small child, each shoe is decorated with a flower.

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Mark R. Stoneman @markstoneman.com · 25/02/2026

An anti-Hitler foxtrot -- shared for no particular reason at stoneman.blog/foxtrot

Record label from the 78 of "When that man is dead and gone"

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Mark R. Stoneman @markstoneman.com · 09/02/2026

Crosspost via stoneman.blog/groundhog

Text Shot: These days, I often have no words, which for me is saying something. Perhaps I'm still processing the American insanity that makes every day feel like I'm stuck in a time loop à la Harold Ramis's 1993 film "Groundhog Day." Or maybe I'm growing numb and dumb. In any case, I took this photo in North Conway on the actual Groundhog Day last week with nary a rodent in sight.

In the woods on a sunny afternoon, the shadows of trees playing on the snow.

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Mark R. Stoneman @markstoneman.com · 30/01/2026

Seen in North Conway Village on Wednesday afternoon, Jan. 28

Sidewalk a couple days after the snow storm. Old train station visible. A snowy mountain and early setting sun in the background.

Massive pile of snow in front of a fire department building

Long icicles, some of them bent because formed on a windy day. The snow below nearly reaches the icicles.

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Mark R. Stoneman @markstoneman.com · 01/01/2026

Echo Lake, North Conway, NH, on Dec. 28, 2025

Small frozen, snow-covered lake. In foreground a sign: 'No Lifeguard on Duty'

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Mark R. Stoneman @markstoneman.com · 09/11/2025

Thoughts on designing social web spaces by Mark Bernstein: alistapart.com/article/design… #SocialWeb

Text Shot: People thinking about how to create web spaces for more productive and meaningful interactions might profit from a recent post by Mark Bernstein that draws inspiration from interwar Vienna’s coffee houses. See “Design for Amiability: Lessons from Vienna,” A List Apart, Oct. 15, 2025. It is also relevant to people interested in online sociability more generally.

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Mark R. Stoneman @markstoneman.com · 01/11/2025

I forgot to mention that a short edition of Stoneman's Corner went out on Nov. 19th: Newsletter: Snapshots, Great Depression, Siege Humor, stoneman.page/2025/10/19/new…

A lobster and her spouse at the No Kings protest in Conway NH.

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Mark R. Stoneman @markstoneman.com · 22/10/2025

Robin DeRosa has words for a state whose investments in higher education are the lowest per student in the country. See "I Lost My Job" (Oct. 19, 2025), robinderosa.net/higher-ed/i-lo… #NH #HigherEd

Text Shot: This winter, close to thirty tenured faculty at my regional public university in New Hampshire will “voluntarily” leave their positions…

I am gutted for New Hampshire, and particularly for the North Country, the rural area that my regional college serves. Many of the Pell-eligible, first-generation college students that attend my university are students who, data shows, likely would not go to college at all without our university close to home. Because we “live [tax-free] or die” here in the Granite State, students pay exorbitant costs already to access higher education. And now the budget situation means the closing of many, many majors; the reduction of choice in what careers and passions our students can pursue; the possible consolidation or closure of campuses; and the reduction of student support and library services.

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Mark R. Stoneman @markstoneman.com · 10/10/2025

Here are some wild asters in North Conway, NH, last week.

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Mark R. Stoneman @markstoneman.com · 10/10/2025

This image stems from a federal food aid program during the Great Depression. For me, the quoted recipient of aid represents a familiar story about pride, dignity, shame, and fear that the self-righteous who reject the provision of such aid fail to grasp. 1/2 X-post via stoneman.blog/relief

Text Shot: Hayward, California [1940]. Youth on Relief. Looking in his pocket for his surplus commodities card. 'Not having a job is bad enough, but you keep goin' down and purty soon you're here and the spirit is gone. I turn my face when somebody I know real well comes along the sidewalk. It takes the spirit when you're in here and then you haven't anything left.'

Black and white photograph of three men and one woman at the front of a food bank line. The man at the very front is looking in his pocket. One arm and one shoe of a man behind the desk is visible, also a small box of some kind and some forms and ink stamps.

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Mark R. Stoneman @markstoneman.com · 02/10/2025

I really like this photo postcard from 1907. The woman looks like so much fun. I blogged a bit about the card because I was trying to work out what I could say without assuming too much. stoneman.blog/bessa #OldPhotos #OldPostcards #Gender 🗃️

Postcard with a photo of a woman from above the waist. She is wearing a man's suit and a top hat, and she has a pipe in left side of her mouth. The look on her face is playful.

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Mark R. Stoneman @markstoneman.com · 01/10/2025

Freshly blogged: "Photo of a Woman Sporting a Top Hat and Pipe in 1907" markstoneman.com/2025/10/01/photo-o… What we can say about the person in the photo on this old postcard? Said person wrote the card, so there are at least a few clues.… #CrossDressing

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Mark R. Stoneman @markstoneman.com · 27/09/2025

As a teenager, I hiked all of these mountains, sometimes adding 2.25 miles of dirt road from where I lived. From left to right, these are Tripyramid, Whiteface, Paugus, and Chocorua. I also used to enjoy canoeing on Lake Chocorua. Crosspost from stoneman.blog/mts #Photos #NH #NewHampshire

Snapshot of the mountains named in this post from the shore of Lake Chocorua. Blue sky and some clouds.

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Mark R. Stoneman @markstoneman.com · 27/09/2025

I took this picture today in Wonalancet, NH, from the small cemetery where my grandmother lies. Crosspost from stoneman.blog/wonalancet #Photos #NH #NewHampshire

Blue sky, small white wooden church in the camera's focus, a small road and power line in front of it, trees on either side, a mowed field in the foreground and a small wooden post fence from the cemetery.

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Mark R. Stoneman @markstoneman.com · 23/09/2025

A prophetic comedy for these upside-down times: "Rapture-Palooza" (Lionsgate, 2013). Also foundational: "Idiocracy" (20th Century Fox, 2006). Repost from stoneman.blog/rapture (April 21, 2025)

RAPTURE-PALOOZA poster with Anna Kendrick and Craig Robinson, A MATCH MADE IN HELL.

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Mark R. Stoneman @markstoneman.com · 20/09/2025

Freshly blogged: "A Sunflower Garden Opposite the Russian Embassy in DC" Snapshots of a Ukrainian victory garden opposite the Russian embassy in Glover Park at stoneman.blog/sunflowers #SunflowerGarden #DC #СлаваУкраїні #ПутінІдиНахуй

Sunflowers at sunset with a bit of the Russian embassy in the background. A Metrobus seems to be hiding behind the leaves.

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Mark R. Stoneman @markstoneman.com · 13/09/2025

This World War II poster identifies the link between civil rights and military strength: "Bonds and justice will smash the Nazis, not bondage!" 1/2 Adapted repost from stoneman.blog/bonds #WorldWarII #CivilRights #Justice #MilitaryPower

A black man's left forearm and fist and a white man's left forearm and fist shown striking a big swaztika. The black man has a broken chain dangling from his wrist. The text reads, 'Bonds and justice will smash the Nazis. Not bondage!'

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Mark R. Stoneman @markstoneman.com · 13/09/2025

The Russo-Japanese War differed in many ways from Russia's current war against Ukraine, but this old postcard speaks to me: "Your size and weight don't count in my style of wrestling." See stoneman.blog/russian-bear... #OldPostcards #RussianBear #Ukraine #RussianWarInUkraine

Man in a red Japanese outfit talking to the Russian Bear in green army trousers and brown army boots as he sits on the ground and holds his head. Stars over his head indicate the hits he took. There is ocean behind them and then the sun, indicating the far east. On the horizon, four warships have been blown into the sky.

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Mark R. Stoneman @markstoneman.com · 12/09/2025

A couple of the app icons optimized for Liquid Glass are showing weird white or grey partial borders on my iDevices. I'm looking at you Drafts and Overcast (the two on the left of the accompanying image). I hope this is not going to be a widespread phenomenon. x-post from stoneman.blog/liquid-icons

Row of app icons from a screenshot of my iPhone in with black wallpaper. From left to right, the apps are Overcast, Drafts, Ivory, and Ulysses.

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Mark R. Stoneman @markstoneman.com · 12/09/2025

A positive view of immigrants in a 1903 Puck cartoon inspired by Theodore Roosevelt stoneman.blog/immigration-cartoon-1… #immigration #prejudice #cartoons #history #migration 🗃️

Illustration shows President Theodore Roosevelt firing a cannon to send a life-line to a ship in distress on rough seas with dark clouds labeled 'Prejudice' forming overhead; the rope spells out the word 'Tolerance'. A rainbow shines on the left with the word 'Liberty'. In the lower right corner is a quote from 'The President's Reference to Immigrants'.

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Mark R. Stoneman @markstoneman.com · 02/09/2025

What 19th-century European understandings of war and dueling can tell us about Putin's murderous invasion of Ukraine and how he labels his war: markstoneman.com/2022/08/11/more-th… (blogged 3 years ago) #PutinsWar #RussoUkrainianWar #LanguageMatters #HistoryMatters #PastAndPresent 🗃️

Text Shot: If we take the Clausewitzian metaphor of war as a duel somewhat literally, the Russian invasion of Ukraine becomes a struggle between two equals, two entities with the same dignity, the same right to exist. After all, duels have traditionally been fought between two parties capable of giving satisfaction for a perceived injury by one to the other’s honor. An officer could duel another officer, but not a sergeant, a lowly conscript, or a civilian occupying a more modest social position.

By calling its invasion a “special military operation,” Russia denies Ukraine’s worthiness and sovereignty. It casts Ukraine and Ukrainians as other, fundamentally inferior, or devoid of honor, so to speak. Rejecting Ukrainian statehood outright, the term “special military operation” facilitates what the talking heads in Russia discuss openly on state TV: genocide, the elimination of Ukrainian culture, ethnicity, and language.

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Mark R. Stoneman @markstoneman.com · 31/08/2025

Yesterday I blogged about some lists I found in a recipe box of my grandmother's: markstoneman.com/2025/08/30/cookie-… #FamilyHistory #WomensLives

Index card (3 x5 inches) with Grandma's summary of her Christmas cookie production between 1977 and 1985. 753 med to lg in 1977, 1042 tiny in 1978, 1352 tiny in 1979, 1192 tiny in 1980, 1067 med to lg in 1981, 438 med to lg in 1982 ('six varieties only'), 529 med in 1983 ('five varieties only'), unknown for 1984, 538 in 1985.

Note with Grandma's Christmas cookie count for 1979. 1,352 that she classified as 'tiny', of which: 103 Pfefeffernusse [sic], 155 Anise flops, 63 anis drops, 48 date-nut, 156 olasses, 144 crescents, 105 chocolate chip, 158 peanut butter, 990 Swedish cherry, 75 white sponge, 84 white spritz, 96 chocolate spritz, 75 green spritz.

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Mark R. Stoneman @markstoneman.com · 29/08/2025

The sky outside a supermarket in North Conway, NH, early yesterday evening markstoneman.com/uploads/2025/d5325…

A parking lot with cars, mountains in the background, at sunset, with peach-colored clouds in the sky.

The camera is pointed up at the sky this time. Only the sky at sunset with clouds is visible.

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Mark R. Stoneman @markstoneman.com · 18/08/2025

I missed this NYT report from July 16, 2025, by Shawn Hubler. archive.ph/9lLIt #CivilMilitaryRelations

Text Shot: The California National Guard had 72 soldiers whose enlistment was set to expire during the deployment. Of those 72, at least two have now left the Guard and 55 others have indicated that they will not extend their service, according to the office of Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is fighting Mr. Trump’s deployment in court. That number, if troops act on it, would amount to a 21 percent retention rate, far lower than the Guard’s typical 60 percent rate, officials said.

–“Trump’s National Guard Troops Are Questioning Their Mission in L.A.” https://archive.ph/9lLIt

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Mark R. Stoneman @markstoneman.com · 12/08/2025

Puck Cartoon: 'Fill That Cell!' (1908): markstoneman.com/2025/08/12/puck-ca… Here is a cartoon that criticized the unequal application of the law, especially when it came to white-collar crime. See post for details. #cartoons

color cartoon from Puck magazine that shows a bunch of incarcerated men and youth of various backgrounds in prison. They are wearing black-and-white striped prison garb, and they are all pointing indignantly at a single, smaller, empty cell reserved for what collar criminals.

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Mark R. Stoneman @markstoneman.com · 09/08/2025

"Putin needs Trump. Trump needs Putin. And I need a beer and a shot of Korn… – Cartoon by Beck in taz.de, August 9, 2025"

Cartoon sketch with text in German that I’ve translated in the body of this post.

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Mark R. Stoneman @markstoneman.com · 30/07/2025

Text shot of markstoneman.com/2025/07/30/nazi-pr… Image source: NYPL Digital Collections, image ID 3946333, in the collection “Eye on the Reich: German propaganda photographs, 1939-1942.” 2//

Text Shot: Putin’s regime and its supporters would have us believe that Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine is purely defensive. This 1939 propaganda image by Heinrich Hoffmann and its accompanying caption offered a similarly cynical story in the run-up to Germany’s invasion of Poland. In this tall tale, Britain appeared as the aggressor, arming for no good reason. The giant anti-aircraft cannon was meant to suggest “monstrous” bellicosity.

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Mark R. Stoneman @markstoneman.com · 30/07/2025

Cross-post title: Nazi Propaganda Photo and Caption Prefigure Putinesque Propaganda Propaganda caption: "England lives in groundless fear of war. Their armaments are of monstrous proportions. Our picture shows the new English anti-aircraft [gun]." #OldPhoto 1/

Black and white photo of a large anti-aircraft cannon in peacetime with six uniformed men. It appears to be armored on all but the back side.

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Mark R. Stoneman @markstoneman.com · 14/07/2025

Evidence of children playing in the neighborhood #photo #childhood #summer

Photo of chalk drawings on pavement: a snowman, a sun, an arrow, and a flower. The pavement also has its own drawings in black tar, the sealant added to the cracks this past spring.

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Mark R. Stoneman @markstoneman.com · 06/07/2025

My Independence Day post was a little dark this year, but not overly so. We can still change course. The question is: how? by what means? See "Justice and Peace or Tyranny and Violence?" markstoneman.com/2025/07/04/justice… #July4th #revolution #reform #USpol

Text Shot: If we do not course correct, if we do not vote these bums out of office and demand or do better ourselves, we can look forward to the end of comity. Instead of gradual, if often bumpy or unsettling change, we’ll get brutal, systematic oppression followed eventually by violent, institution-destroying revolution. Imagine something like the French Revolution or the Russian/Bolshevik Revolutions instead of the American Revolution.

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Mark R. Stoneman @markstoneman.com · 04/07/2025

Dorothy Thompson on American isolationist nonsense, via her book Let the Record Speak (1939), p. 9:

Text Shot: The United States is not a forgotten Elysian island. Our two oceans connect us with the rest of the world; they do not separate us. They are carrying, at this moment, machine tools, automobiles, raw materials, and all manner of manufactured goods to the whole world and they are bringing here other materials, such as rubber, tungsten, and tin, that are absolutely essential to the continuance of production at even its present level. They protect us, still, from armed attack upon our soil, but they do not protect us from assaults upon our economy or upon the public mind. They in no way relieve us of the responsibility of doing everything that a great nation can do to maintain a world order in which the interests

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