Illiberalism
Fig. 1. Photograph by Joachim F. Thurn, August 1991, Bundesarchiv, B 145 Bild-F089030-0003, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE.
Matthew Karnitschnig, “Springtime for Europe’s fascists,” Politico, August 20, 2023, https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-fascism-populism-europe-bjorn-hocke-immigration-elections-eu/
Gilead
Donald Trump
Coup attempt
Fig. 1. “Jake Angeli (Qanon Shaman), seen holding a Qanon sign at the intersection of Bell Rd and 75th Ave in Peoria, Arizona, on 2020 October 15.” Photography by TheUnseen011101 [pseud.], October 15, 2020, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
Jennifer Rubin, “Why Trump’s Georgia case likely can’t be removed to federal court,” Washington Post, August 20, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/08/20/georgia-trump-trial-move-federal-court/
Pennsylvania
Fig. 1. When you get outside urban centers, Pennsylvania is very much a white Christian nationalist kind of place. Photograph by author, January 5, 2023.
Jason Nark, “This rural Pennsylvania utopia is like a spa for the mind,” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 20, 2023, https://www.inquirer.com/news/pennsylvania/mount-gretna-lebanon-county-pennsylvania-chautauqua-paradise-20230820.html
Imperialism
Russia
Ukraine
Fig. 1. “Destroyed Russian military vehicles located on the main street Khreshchatyk are seen as part of the celebration of the Independence Day of Ukraine in Kyiv, August 24.” Photograph by Gleb Garanich for Reuters, August 24, 2022,[1] fair use.
Ishaan Tharoor, “Ukraine’s hopes for maximal victory look remote,” Washington Post, August 21, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/08/21/ukraine-counteroffensive-hopes-endgame-victory-difficult/
Guatemala
The corrupt ruling elite are pulling out all the stops trying to stay in power. If they succeed, it won’t be with anything like a popular mandate.[2]
Nic Wirtz and Mary Beth Sheridan, “Anti-corruption candidate scores landslide win in Guatemala vote,” Washington Post, August 20, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/08/20/guatemala-presidential-elections-bernardo-arevalos/
Hilary
Once upon a time, I said routinely that the hardest thing in the world to forecast was an unattached low pressure area, that is, one not part of a frontal system. They do tend to zag where you might be expecting a zig.
On the whole, though, it has to be said that the National Weather Service is doing a much better job with forecasts these days. Hell, they’re even right half the time in PIttsburgh, which is a place meteorologists could go to be abjectly humiliated.
And it’s worth noting that the outcome of the zag was to put Hilary—or its remnants—back on the original forecast track.[3] That’s not bad at all for probabilistic work.
Rong-Gong Lin, II, and Susanne Rust, “How did Hilary end up over Compton, Dodger Stadium? The crazy path of the tropical storm,” Los Angeles Times, August 20, 2023, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-08-20/la-me-hilary-center-path
- [1]Reuters, “Ukraine puts destroyed Russian tanks on display in Kyiv,” August 25, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/ukraine-puts-destroyed-russian-tanks-on-idUSRTSALV9Q↩
- [2]Nic Wirtz and Mary Beth Sheridan, “Anti-corruption candidate scores landslide win in Guatemala vote,” Washington Post, August 20, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/08/20/guatemala-presidential-elections-bernardo-arevalos/↩
- [3]Rong-Gong Lin, II, and Susanne Rust, “How did Hilary end up over Compton, Dodger Stadium? The crazy path of the tropical storm,” Los Angeles Times, August 20, 2023, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-08-20/la-me-hilary-center-path↩