Rick Shenkman

Founder of History News Network, author of POLITICAL ANIMALS: How Our Stone-Age Brain Gets in the Way of Smart Politics (Basic Books)

[Rick Shenkman @rickshenkman]

25 years ago I wrote and produced a series on TLC—The Learning Channel—called Myth America. Over the course of the year I will be releasing links to each of the 13 half-hour shows. Here they are. Enjoy! (The shows were designed to be fun.)

[Rick Shenkman @rickshenkman]

@nic_carter Pet shop boys

[Tom Nichols @RadioFreeTom]

It wasn't a secret, even then, who he was

[Rick Shenkman @rickshenkman]

Scary. I hooe our barely functioning NSC is preparing.

[Roman Sheremeta 🇺🇸🇺🇦 @rshereme]

An attack on the Baltic states is entirely plausible, and here’s why. There are at least three reasons.

First and foremost: russia risks nothing. No matter how events unfold with the occupation of the Baltic countries, things will not get worse for russia. Sanctions are already in place. Europe no longer buys its oil or gas. Weapons are being supplied to Ukraine.

From a purely military perspective, russia also risks nothing. It has nuclear weapons, so if it wins and occupies the Baltics, or even parts of them, no one will be able to push it out.

And if it loses, it will not lose its own territory. It will simply retreat to its borders, and NATO will not invade russian territory because of those same nuclear weapons.

So why not try?

Second reason: the goals of the war. The objectives of russia go far beyond the occupation of the Baltics. Above all, russia is interested in weakening or dismantling NATO and the EU. From this perspective, any territorial gain in the Baltics would count as a victory.

Even if russia does not capture Vilnius or Tallinn, but only a few border villages, that would still be a win, because it would demonstrate NATO’s inability to defend its members.

So again, why not try?

Third reason: russia has sufficient forces and resources in the potential conflict zone to carry out military objectives and achieve an acceptable outcome.

In the Leningrad Military District, there is a combat-ready army of around 70,000 troops, which can easily be reinforced with reserves from the Ukrainian front. This army is mechanized, with around 700 tanks and a large amount of armored equipment.

Separately, I would highlight the drone component, which has no real equivalent in NATO and could significantly shift the balance of power in the event of an invasion.

If the forces are sufficient, then why not try?

Thus, as of now, we are facing the following situation: russia has enough forces and resources to achieve its goals in the Baltics, and it does not face a bad scenario under any development of events.

The situation is very similar to the one before the invasion of Ukraine, especially considering the law that allows putin to “protect russians abroad,” which was quickly introduced in the State Duma.

The Baltic states have helped us more than anyone else, so I sincerely hope our friends will not face war.

But to preserve peace, one must prepare for a major war. It is very good that our Baltic friends have learned from Ukraine’s mistakes and have built defensive lines and fortifications to repel an invasion. I very much hope that russia will break its teeth on the Baltics, just as it did on Ukraine.

Source: translated and adopted from Serhii Marchenko

[Gerald Posner @geraldposner]

The headline from last night is that a potential assassin was stopped before anyone was killed.

But it shouldn’t be the takeaway.

The real story—highlighted by journalist @mirandadevine—is far more unsettling: “Security seemed lax.”

And not in some vague, hindsight way. In basic, preventable ways.

She got in without a ticket—just by showing a PDF invitation on her phone for a different event. No QR code. No verification. No ID check. “The security coming into the studio today was better.”
Let that sink in.

The magnetometers weren’t at the perimeter—they were inside the venue. Meaning anyone intent on harm could already be inside before being screened.

Even attendees noticed. People were reportedly eyeing exits before anything happened because something felt off.

And then the most alarming detail: Scott Bessent said to her, “I can't believe that you've got the President and the Vice President on the table at the same time.”

In the same room were the top EIGHT in line of succession, a concentration of leadership that represents a real continuity-of-government risk.

This is the Washington Hilton—the same venue where President Reagan was shot.

We spend billions preparing for worst-case scenarios. Yet sometimes the greatest vulnerability isn’t the threat—it’s complacency. The Butler assassination attempt, the golf course incident, now this. Patterns of close calls demand accountability and reform—not complacency wrapped in “they did a fantastic job once the shooting started.”

An assassin only has to get lucky once. Last night should be treated as an urgent warning.

[Steven Pinker @sapinker]

Thirty-six years ago, @paulbloomatyale and I argued that the human language faculty was a genetically complex trait, distinct from general cognition, which evolved gradually by natural selection of many regulatory genes over a long period (as opposed to being the result of a single lucky macromutation, just another manifestation of general intelligence, or a by-product of a big brain). We were repeatedly told that our hypothesis was an unfalsifiable after-the-fact just-so story. | Natural language and natural selection | Behavioral and Brain Sciences https://t.co/KzVzVLoPSI

[Rick Shenkman @rickshenkman]

Iranians demonstrating in Paris yesterday in favor of regime change. Seen: Israeli and USA flags and pics of the Shah’s son. A few thousand marchers.

[Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum]

Two weeks ago, the Hungarian opposition was bracing for a false flag operation, an "emergency" that would allow Viktor Orban to turn the tide or even cancel an election he is losing. Now it appears to have arrived

[Mary L Trump @MaryLTrump]

It's not that Donald sent this as awful as it is; it's that nobody felt they could stop him or, worse, nobody thought they should.

[David French @DavidAFrench]

This is a remarkable development. Just extraordinary and unanticipated by almost everyone.

[Steven Pinker @sapinker]

I agree with this assessment: Trivers explained "the many roots of our suffering" in his analysis of the inherent conflicts of interest in even our most intimate relationships: parent and offspring, sibling and sibling, husband and wife, partner and partner, and the inner and outer domains of the self. All these ideas from a burst of papers (in one case, from a few sentences in a foreword) in the mid-1970s. The implications for the social sciences, and the humanities, are profound.

[Mark Hammond @MarkHam80780803]

“Just one more thing, President Trump. Why do you need our ships to help you in a war you said you’d won last week?”

[Rick Shenkman @rickshenkman]

Trump is making the same mistake as LBJ in Vietnam, if this WSJ report is accurate. Like LBJ he thinks that if the USA just unleashes unholy hell on the enemy it will fold. This is the mistake dominant personalities make.

[David French @DavidAFrench]

Madison: "Because the proposed establishment is a departure from that generous policy, which, offering an Asylum to the persecuted and oppressed of every Nation and Religion, promised a lustre to our country, and an accession to the number of its citizens."

Madison > Ogles

[Rick Shenkman @rickshenkman]

This picture should frighten us. Turns out there are lots of people who actually like the Iranian regime. Uh oh.

[Michael McFaul @McFaul]

Bill has a very good idea here. I hope people will listen.

[David French @DavidAFrench]

This is genuinely horrible. We are doing immense damage to ourselves.

[Seth Abramson @SethAbramson]

UPDATE: A former Trump attorney has now publicly stated that he believes Kasparov has summarized Trump's intentions *perfectly*: what the convicted felon, adjudicated rapist, and pedophile protector-in-chief is planning is the end of democracy—a fascist regime—this year or next.

[Seth Abramson @SethAbramson]

I and millions of Americans believe exactly the same thing Kasparov does.

Too many troops, too many new prisons, too much money not under Congressional supervision.

We're not just witnessing a mass deportation scheme anymore.

This is something significantly bigger and scarier.