"Joe Pera Reads You the Church Announcements" (the Baba O’Riley episode) and "Joe Pera Talks With You About the Weekly Trip to the Grocery Store" are two of the greatest moments in American television history, and I will rewatch them on repeat until the day I die.

Russia revises this month’s crude export plan from its western ports to 2.1 million barrels per day — 11% higher than scheduled, as Ukrainian drone attacks on domestic refineries reduce local demand for crude. Rising spot demand in India will grab the extra crude, says Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/russia-revises-up-september-oil-exports-western-ports-by-11-sources-say-2025-09-10/

vibes

weeeeeeeeee

Asked about his recently chickened-out sanctions against Russia in the context of a ceasefire push, Trump reiterates his newfound devotion to a full peace deal.

“People are going out to dinner.” Donald Trump’s comment just now at the summit with Ukraine’s president to end Russia’s invasion.

When you visit Trump’s Truth Social page, loading it full screen on a desktop computer still fails to display a single post — it’s all ads, one more grotesque than the other.

unspeakably weird

404 Media

The UN Made AI-Generated Refugees

The AIs are designed to teach people about atrocities in Sudan.

Finally got around to reading some of the short stories in the fall issue of Granta, and they end in such beautiful ambiguity. This is some of my first exposure to Chinese literature, and it's wonderful stuff. https://granta.com/products/granta-169-china/

Benjamin Nathans in NYRB reviews Frank Costigliola’s biography of George Kennan. Some startling personal details, Kennan's complicated philosophy about his own containment doctrine, and some fascinating guesswork about his peculiar brand of Russophilia.

The New York Review of Books

The Enigma of George Kennan | Benjamin Nathans

Frank Costigliola's biography of George Kennan explores the contrast between the supreme confidence of his policy prescriptions and the perpet...

Would I poison my blood to make it toxic to mosquitoes? I hesitate at the moment, but ask me after one of them bites me, and the answer will be 1000 times yes. From: @npub1rl6x...068m

Flipboard

Drug makes blood toxic to malaria-spreading mosquitoes | Flipboard

Live Science - Nitisinone, a drug that is already used to treat two genetic diseases, could be repurposed to control the spread of malaria, accordi...

welp

Defense Ministry was reportedly squeezing Prigozhin & Wagner out of their empire in Africa and Syria ahead of the plane crash. Also, Putin allegedly met at least twice w him after the mutiny. "Well, you're in the Kremlin," was Putin's first opening line.

X (formerly Twitter)

Andrey Zakharov (@skazal_on) on X

Перед гибелью Пригожину якобы сказали убираться из Сирии вместе с «Вагнером». П...

Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-bek Yevkurov has apparently been making the rounds to all Wagner's countries of interest and telling them to give Wagner the cold shoulder. Transport planes are being denied. Diplomats are getting in on it too. The end began before the crash.

Olga Karach — Belarusian activist, Nash Dom founder, and 2022 Weimar Human Rights Prize winner — has reportedly been denied asylum in Lithuania. Also, the local authorities have declared her to be a "national security threat," in part because she once interviewed Zhirinovsky. If she's actually sent back to Belarus, she'll be tried for terrorism and extremism and possibly executed.

The US is pushing Iran to stop selling armed drones to Russia as part of discussions on a broader “unwritten understanding” between Washington and Tehran to de-escalate tensions and contain a long-simmering nuclear crisis https://archive.is/20230816103411/https://www.ft.com/content/c237c531-a51e-4205-a934-0a13e0a50482

I am soliciting you, dear readers, for the names of historians who study Soviet history textbooks and Soviet classroom curricula. I’d like to talk to one or some of them about the new Medinsky uchebnik.

X has been slowing the speed with which users could access t-co links to the New York Times, Facebook, and other news organizations and online competitors, a move that appeared targeted at companies that have drawn the ire of owner Elon Musk. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/08/15/twitter-x-links-delayed/

The independent outlet The Insider has published an investigation into a series of poisoning attacks targeting Russian journalists and activists in Europe: Elena Kostyuchenko in Munich, Irina Babloyan in Tbilisi, and Natalia Arno in Prague.

Meduza

‘The most likely explanation’ At least three Russian journalists and activists appear to have been poisoned abroad since fall 2022 — Meduza

The independent outlet The Insider has published an investigation into a series of poisoning attacks targeting Russian journalists and activists in...

Open Society Foundations, the charity founded by billionaire George Soros, plans to withdraw or terminate large parts of its work within the European Union as it shifts focus to other parts of the world, according to an internal email seen by Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/charity-soros-europe/soros-foundation-to-limit-eu-funding-in-new-strategy-internal-email-idUSKBN2ZQ0K1

A mine reportedly washed near shore and detonated against a pier in the Romanian resort town of Costinesti. No injuries reported, but another mine in the area is suspected. Could be scattered, displaced Black Sea mines.

Alertă pe litoral. O mină marină s-a lovit de dig în Costinești și a explodat

O explozie puternică a avut loc în zona digului din fața Hotelului Forum din Costinești. Din primele date, ar fi vorba despre o mină marină. ...