Illiberalism
Türkiye
Fig. 1. Map of the Ottoman Empire in 1914 attributed to Chamboz, March 26, 2021, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Elçin Poyrazlar, “Turkey’s Erdoğan suffers blow in crucial mayoral elections as secular opposition surges,” Politico, April 1, 2024, https://www.politico.eu/article/turkey-election-president-recep-tayyip-erdogan-suffers-blow-as-opposition-rpp-holds-five-cities/
Ishaan Tharoor, “Turkey’s shock elections offer another lesson for the world,” Washington Post, April 2, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/04/02/turkey-election-autocracy-global-lessons-democracy/
Gilead
Donald Trump
Finances
Fig. 2. Trump International Hotel, Las Vegas, undated image credited to https://www.flickr.com/photos/glynlowe/ [bad link], via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
Zach Everson, “Trump Posts $175 Million Bond In New York Civil Fraud Lawsuit,” Forbes, April 1, 2024, https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacheverson/2024/04/01/trump-posts-175-million-bond-new-york-civil-fraud-lawsuit/
Shayna Jacobs, “Trump posts $175M bond to keep N.Y. authorities from seizing property,” Washington Post, April 1, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/04/01/trump-new-york-bond-175-million/
Heather Cox Richardson, “April 1, 2024,” Letters from an American, April 2, 2024, https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-1-2024
Coup attempt
Fig. 3. Cartoon by Ben Jennings, January 24, 2024, via the Guardian,[1] fair use.
Hafiz Rashid, “Another One Bites the Dust: Trump 2020 Lawyer Officially Disbarred,” New Republic, April 2, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/180365/eastman-trump-2020-lawyer-disbarred
Illiberalism
Gilead
Donald Trump
Hush money
Fig. 4. Cartoon by Jesse Duquette, undated, via “Minneapple23” [pseud.] on Imgur, April 1, 2023, fair use.
Hafiz Rashid, “Trump Completely Melts Down Over New Gag Order in Hush Money Trial,” New Republic, April 2, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/180334/trumps-big-mouth-cost-again-hush-money
Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh
Fig. 5. The confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers, with the “Golden Triangle” and downtown Pittsburgh. Photograph by author, October 15, 2023.
A tornado watch is up for Pittsburgh until 2 am.[2]
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Severe weather updates: Pittsburgh under tornado watch as powerful storm system gains steam,” April 2, 2024, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/weather-news/2024/04/02/pittsburgh-severe-weather-forecast-updates/stories/202404020059
Cheryl Vari, Cameron Knight, and Quinlan Bentley, “Severe storm warnings and tornado watches lifted in Cincinnati area as storms move east,” Cincinnati Inquirer, April 2, 2024, https://www.cincinnati.com/story/weather/2024/04/02/tornado-threat-in-ohio-kentucky-on-tuesday-april-2-severe-storms-national-weather-service/73175866007/
Imperialism
Israel
Fig. 6. John Bolton and Binyamin Netanyahu at a press conference. Office of U.S. National Security Advisor, August 20, 2018, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
Binyamin Netanyahu might just have managed to widen the war on Gaza.[3] Especially worringly,
[The Islamic Republic News Agency] said Iran holds the United States responsible for the strike, though Axios reported Tuesday that the US had told Tehran that it “had no involvement” in or prior knowledge of the attack on the consulate in Syria. A senior US official quoted in the report said the message had been “communicated directly” to Iran.[4]
Times of Israel, “Iran and Hezbollah vow ‘punishment and revenge’ for strike that killed IRGC generals,” April 2, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-and-hezbollah-vow-punishment-and-revenge-for-strike-that-killed-irgc-generals/
Palestine
Fig. 7. The ruins of a terminal at the Gaza airport. Image by Said Khatib (Agence France-Presse) on September 9, 2018, via the Times of Israel,[5] fair use.
Maegan Vazquez, “Michigan lawmaker says Gaza should be approached ‘like Nagasaki and Hiroshima,’” Washington Post, March 31, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/30/michigan-lawmaker-gaza-hiroshima/
Warren P. Strobel and Nancy A. Youssef, “U.S. and Israel’s ‘Unprecedented’ Intelligence Sharing Draws Criticism,” Wall Street Journal, March 31, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/u-s-and-israels-unprecedented-intelligence-sharing-draws-criticism-a85979b4
William Booth and Lorenzo Tugnoli, “Inside the ruins of Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital,” Washington Post, April 1, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/04/01/gaza-al-shifa-hospital-israel/
Times of Israel, “Israel acknowledges killing 7 aid charity workers in ‘tragic, unintentional’ airstrike,” April 2, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-promises-probe-as-slain-aid-workers-home-countries-demand-explanation/
- [1]Ben Jennings, “Ben Jennings on Donald Trump’s progress along the Republican nomination trail – cartoon,” Guardian, January 24, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2024/jan/24/ben-jennings-on-donald-trumps-progress-along-the-republican-nomination-trail-cartoon↩
- [2]Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Severe weather updates: Pittsburgh under tornado watch as powerful storm system gains steam,” April 2, 2024, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/weather-news/2024/04/02/pittsburgh-severe-weather-forecast-updates/stories/202404020059↩
- [3]Times of Israel, “Iran and Hezbollah vow ‘punishment and revenge’ for strike that killed IRGC generals,” April 2, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-and-hezbollah-vow-punishment-and-revenge-for-strike-that-killed-irgc-generals/↩
- [4]Times of Israel, “Iran and Hezbollah vow ‘punishment and revenge’ for strike that killed IRGC generals,” April 2, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-and-hezbollah-vow-punishment-and-revenge-for-strike-that-killed-irgc-generals/↩
- [5]Agence France-Presse and Times of Israel, “20 years after its opening, destroyed Gaza airport embodies grounded peace hopes,” Times of Israel, September 12, 2018, https://www.timesofisrael.com/20-years-after-its-opening-destroyed-gaza-airport-embodies-grounded-peace-hopes/↩