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Opinion: One man's story of supporting the wrong side — and how it applies to the Kansas midterms
Opinion from Eric Thomas: Manchester City’s monumental soccer deception contains a lesson in blind allegiance — my blind allegiance — but also a lesson about what happens when that irrational loyalty breaks.
Monument Health expands diabetes, endocrine care in Rapid City
Monument Health opened a new 26,000-square-foot Endocrinology and Diabetes Education clinic at 855 Omaha St. in Rapid City with 35 exam rooms.
Mobile Health Clinic, Library Trustees Meeting, Closed Council Meeting: Princeton This Week
Zufall Health will offer exams, vaccines and more at Monument Hall, with fees based on what patients can pay.
Hospice, Home Health Moratoria: What Might Come Next
Many hospice providers are struggling to grow amid the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) temporary moratoria on hospice and home
Latinos Want More Than a Historic First From Xavier Becerra
California’s upcoming gubernatorial election includes a potentially monumental feat: Xavier Becerra could become California’s first Latino governor in over 150 years.
Wizards vs. Nets discussion
The Washington Wizards host the Brooklyn Nets tonight at 7 p.m. ET. Watch on Monumental Sports Network. Renzo has the preview here. Go Wizards.
Maple Leafs Get Telling Sergei Bobrovsky Reaction From William Nylander
As part of their monumental summer of change, the Toronto Maple Leafs brought in multiple new faces, including the likes of Nick Paul and Darren Raddysh from the divisional rival Tampa Bay Lightning, along with goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who had played the last seven years with the rival Florida Panthers. Of course, Bobrovsky had helped […] The post Maple Leafs Get Telling Sergei Bobrovsky Reaction From William Nylander appeared first on HEAVY.
‘March for Mammos’ returns to Monument Health Hospital for annual walk
Monument Health's annual "March for Mammos" returns Oct. 10 with booths, raffles and a walk promoting breast cancer awareness and early detection.
🎙️ Messi's latest comments on Argentina duty
Lionel Messi bid farewell to the Argentina national team amid a huge celebration at El Monumental. After the match, the superstar sent a message to all the fans who gave him a standing ovation for his...
The enduring popularity of Elvis Presley's Graceland is a monument to his legacy
Graceland, Elvis Presley's iconic home, continues to captivate fans decades after his death | WBBM Newsradio 780 AM & 105.9 FM
Adidas releases Messi tribute video ahead of farewell in Argentina
The end of an era in Argentina!This Tuesday (6), at 8 p.m. (Brasília time), live on sportv, Lionel Messi takes the field at the Monumental de Núñez against Benin for his final game in the Albiceles...
😭 Farewell Leo: the emotional video bidding Messi goodbye
Today, Leo Messi will bid his grand farewell to the Argentina national team at the Monumental stadium against Benin.With the occasion bringing Argentina to a standstill, the AFA has shared a video tha...
Monument seeks increase for use tax on construction materials
Monument is asking voters to increase the town's use tax on construction and building materials from 2% to 3.5% in the November election.
Bucks Owner Gives High Praise to New Coach Taylor Jenkins
Going into the first year of a monumental rebuild, new Bucks head coach Taylor Jenkins has total backing from the franchise's leadership.
Artist Enrique Martínez Celaya hand-painted L.A. Opera's new curtain
L.A. Opera is set to unveil a monumental new curtain created by the Cuban-born artist Enrique Martínez Celaya. More than a year in the making, the utilitarian art work will serve as the visual centerpiece of the company's entire 2026–27 season.
Good science requires much more than evidence
Empiricists believe that scientific theories are true only if they make correct empirical predictions: if we can't verify these predictions, then there is no reason to expect that they tell us anything about reality. However, Professor of Philosophy at King's College David Kyle Johnson argues that this is mistaken. In response to Bas van Fraassen, who has written on this subject for the IAI, he argues that we have many reasons for believing a theory to be true, such as it being parsimonious and having large scope — qualities which have been used throughout the history of science as criteria for judging theories. In 2024, Princeton philosopher Bas van Fraassen wrote a short article for IAI News entitled “Science Does not Describe Reality: The Limits and Benefits of Explanation.” At the time, I was working on two projects (a science book and a Great Course) that, when completed, would (among other things) defend science’s ability to describe reality. I wanted to write a response to van Fraassen, but the projects demanded too much of my attention. But now that those projects are complete, I am in a position to explain the objections to van Fraassen’s thesis. Summarizing van Fraassen’s argumentIn a nutshell, his argument is this: What scientists do is make predictions based on theories and then invite others to test to see whether those predictions are borne out. “If theory T is right, result R should happen in experimental condition C.” Many think that running an experiment that shows that R happens in condition C is proof that theory T is true (and should be believed). But, van Fraassen argues, that R happened in condition C is only a reason to think that R happens in condition C. That’s the only observable, or empirical, result we can actually see, so that is all that we are really justified in believing. (The underlying theory that made that prediction still may or may not be true.) That is why he calls those who accept his position “empiricists.”Before I explain what is wrong with this position, let me explain what it gets right. What van Fraassen Gets RightFirst, a theory correctly predicting the results of an experiment is not, strictly speaking, “proof” that the theory is correct. The basic line of reasoning is this:If the theory T is true, result R should happen. Result R did happen. Thus, theory T is true.In other words:“If T then R. R. Thus, T.”This is a deductively invalid, fallacious mode of reasoning, called “affirming the consequent.” Those premises do not guarantee that the conclusion follows. “If I am in Pennsylvania, then I am in the USA. I am in the USA. Thus, I am in Pennsylvania.” Clearly that argument doesn’t guarantee its conclusion; neither does the above argument.However, science is not a deductive method of reasoning; it is an inductive one. And inductive arguments merely try to raise the probability of their conclusion, not “prove” them for certain. Thus, the fact that an experimental result doesn’t prove a theory is true is irrelevant; it’s not supposed to. That is not what scientific reasoning is about.___If the hypothesis that something exists clearly provides the best explanation for what we can observe, then the belief that it exists is what is rational.___Second, it’s also true that a single experimental result doesn’t provide enough justification to believe that a theory is true. Scientists do not come to a consensus about whether a theory is true by looking at a single experiment; they look at all the evidence to determine where the preponderance of evidence points. The mere fact that I am in the USA raises the probability that I am in Pennsylvania, but not nearly enough to conclude that I am in Pennsylvania. However, if I am also regularly encountering people wearing Eagles and Phillies hats and seeing advertisements for Founding Father tours, I probably am. In the same way, a theory successfully predicting the outcome of one experiment is not enough to conclude that it is true; but if a theory makes a wide variety of predictions that are all vindicated by multiple experiments, performed by many different groups and people, all actively trying to prove the theory false (which is what good scientific experiments are designed to do)—that is a good reason to conclude that the theory is true. In other words, if you repeatedly try to prove something false but can’t, that is a very good indication that it isn’t. The problem of underdeterminationIn reply, those whom van Fraassen calls “empiricists” often point to the “problem of underdetermination.” For any given theory that makes successful predictions about what happens in experimental conditions, there are countless other possible theories that make exactly the same predictions—and since they do, the experimental evidence in question is just as much reason to accept any of those theories as it is to accept our original one. Thus, the argument goes, we have no way of knowing whether our original theory is true, or one of the other “predictively equivalent” theories is true. SUGGESTED VIEWING How Occam's Razor changed the world With Johnjoe McFadden As an example of underdetermination, philosophers often offer this example. The evidence of fossils seems to provide reason to conclude that the universe is quite old; ancient fossils are what the “ancient universe” hypothesis predicts. But it’s also possible that God created an ancient-looking universe 200 years ago, complete with a “fake” fossil record for us to find, to make it look old. The existence of fossils is what that theory predicts too. So, the argument goes, the fossil record can’t be used as evidence that the universe is ancient; the fossil record supports the “200-year-old ancient-looking universe” theory just as much. The problem of underdetermination points out that, for any theory with supporting evidence, we could invent another completely different theory that predicts exactly the same evidence, and thus undermine that evidence’s ability to support the original theory.But this “argument from underdetermination” betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of what scientific reasoning is and how it works. To explain, let me use another rather strange (but very real and commonly discussed) philosophical thought experiment called “The Grue Problem.” The “Grue” ProblemSuppose I want to know what color emeralds are, so I observe a few, see that they all appear green, and form the theory that “all emeralds are green.” I thus predict that the next 100 emeralds I find will also appear to be green. And let’s say that happens, and so I thus conclude that my theory that all emeralds are green is true. Now, one might rightly point out that I don’t know for sure that all emeralds are green—I have not seen them all. Maybe some I haven’t found yet are blue. Fair enough. After all, we used to think that all swans were white, until we found some black ones. But let’s say that I go on a quest and collect every emerald in the universe—and, for the sake of the argument, let’s say I can do this, and can even know that I have every one of them. So, I collect them all, look at them all, and verify that they all appear green. Can’t I now rightly conclude that all emeralds are green?Inspired by the problem of underdetermination, a friend might argue that I cannot.Sure, they all appear green now—but there could be another kind of color called “grue.” Something is grue if it is green up to a certain point in time, but then spontaneously turns blue. And there could be an infinite number of “shades” of grue. Something that is one shade of grue will turn blue at noon today, but something that is another shade of grue will turn blue at noon tomorrow, etc. So yes, the emeralds appear green now; and since they haven’t turned blue yet, they are not some “past” shade of grue. But they might be some “future” shade of grue (e.g., they may turn blue at noon tomorrow). And since all future shades of grue are consistent with “being green up to this point in time,” the evidence you have is completely consistent with the notion that all emeralds are some future shade of grue, rather than green. Indeed, that they would appear green until now is what the “some future shade of grue” hypothesis predicts. So, we have just as much reason to conclude that all emeralds are some shade of grue as we do to conclude that they are green.You’re probably thinking “It’s not equally possible that the emeralds are grue; they are obviously green.” You are right! But explaining why your instinctive reaction to my friend’s argument is correct will help inform why van Fraassen’s “empiricist” is wrong and science actually does describe reality.The main mistake my friend makes is in thinking that the “empirical evidence” (of all the emeralds appearing green) is (or even should be) all I am using to draw the conclusion that all emeralds are green. It is not. I am also considering known facts about how colors typically work; things don’t usually change color, and when they do, they don’t do so suddenly, without cause, and all at once. So, even though the simple evidence of the emeralds all appearing green up to this point is consistent with them being some future shade of grue—that is even what the grue hypothesis “predicts”—it is still exceedingly unlikely that they are. The hypothesis that they are green is much more likely. Understanding science refutes the problem of underdetermination The misunderstanding about science that the “empiricist” pointing to “the problem of underdetermination” makes is similar to the one that my friend made. Science is not just about considering experimental evidence; in fact, it’s not even just about considering empirical evidence. As Ernan McMullin and many other philosophers of science have pointed out, the inference that makes science is “inference to the best explanation” (sometimes called “abduction” or “retroduction” by McMullin). While, depending on the circumstances, scientists use many different kinds of reasoning, science as a whole is, simply put, the process of considering multiple competing explanations and comparing them to certain criteria—explanatory criteria (the kinds of things explanations must be and do, by definition, to be a good explanation)—to see which explanation is the best.And these criteria do not deal only with empirical results. Yes, successful predictions raise the probability of a hypothesis, but it’s also the case that the more new assumptions a theory makes, the less likely it is to be true; every new assumption presents an opportunity for the theory to be false. (The fewer assumptions a theory makes, the simpler or “more parsimonious” it is said to be.) Likewise, the more existing evidence a theory contradicts, the less likely it is, because in order for a theory to be true, every piece of evidence it contradicts has to be somehow faulty. (The fewer established theories a new theory contradicts, the more “conservative” it is said to be.) And, obviously, the more something explains, the better explanation it is. (This is called having “scope.”) If a theory raises unanswerable questions, it’s not expanding our understanding, and thus is not wide-scoping. Scientists consider all these things when deciding which theory to accept, because the theory that adheres best to these explanatory criteria is most likely to be true.___the mere fact that a theory’s predictive success is why it “sticks around” or “becomes accepted” in the scientific community is not a reason to be skeptical about its truth.___The reason the grue hypothesis is no good is because it invents an entirely new kind of color—not just a new shade, but an entirely different category of color (a different way colors work)—and thus is not parsimonious. It raises unanswerable questions about how and why emeralds would just spontaneously change from green to blue (and thus does not have wide scope). And it contradicts what is already well established about how color works (and thus is unconservative).The theories that the problem of underdetermination points to do the same thing. Yes, the theory that God created an “ancient-looking universe” (complete with an ancient-looking fossil record) two hundred years ago is also consistent with the empirical evidence (of a fossil record) that presently exists; but that theory is monumentally unparsimonious (it requires many extra assumptions about infinite entities) and not wide-scoping (it raises unanswerable questions about why God would do such a thing). So, I can rationally conclude that it is false.Indeed, the history of science includes many examples of theories that were rejected because they lacked parsimony and/or scope, even before their falsity (and the truth of their competing theory) was confirmed by observation. As I point out in my book, geocentrism was rejected by the scientific community because it lacked parsimony, almost 200 years before the observation of parallax confirmed that the Earth moves around the sun. And the continuum theory of matter was completely rejected by 1860, because it couldn’t explain chemical reactions or organize matter into a periodic table, even though the experiments that eventually confirmed atomic theory weren’t even proposed until the 1870s. Solving the best of a bad lot problemIn response, the “empiricists” are likely to object, this time pointing to the “best of a bad lot” problem. “We have no reason to conclude that an explanation that has been shown to be better than others is true because we have no guarantee that the true theory was among those that we were considering.” If you have a “lot” (a collection) of poor explanations, even the best one is not true.The responses to this problem, however, are numerous. Peter Lipton argues that the set of hypotheses that scientists consider are not just randomly selected and thus unlikely to contain a theory that is true; they use existing knowledge to home in on what is most likely to be true. A doctor trying to explain abdominal pain is not going to bother wondering whether demons are causing it; they are going to stick with things like appendicitis and kidney stones, because they are most likely. Further, despite its name, inference to the best explanation is not just the process of comparing hypotheses and accepting the best one; we also want one that is a good explanation in its own right. If it’s not, we are going to keep looking until we find an explanation that is. And while that process does not guarantee that we will come across the exact truth, it’s very likely that the theory that emerges as the best will be at least approximately true, and thus we will be justified in believing it. And lastly, as I point out in my book, although many theories not based in scientific evidence (like geocentrism and continuum theory) have been completely overturned, science almost always progresses by the refinement of scientifically established theories—not their replacement. (Although our sun is not the center of the universe, heliocentrism was our first step in understanding the Earth’s true place in the universe.) So even if a theory we accept today may not be completely right, accepting it is a step on the journey toward the complete truth. The example of atomic theoryNow, it’s worth pointing out that most empiricists are not skeptical of all scientific theories; they are only skeptical of the ones that hypothesize the existence of “unobservables.” It’s not like they think that round Earth, heliocentrism, and germ theory are just useful (but untrue) “instruments” for making predictions about how to most efficiently navigate the seas, predict planetary motion, and treat diseases. They admit that the Earth actually is round, that the planets revolve around the sun, and that germs exist and cause disease. These facts and entities can be observed; the theories that suggest they exist are true. It’s only when theories start hypothesizing the existence of unobservables—like electrons, or quantum fields—that can’t be observed directly, that we should start doubting the theories’ truth. And to be fair to van Fraassen, in this published work, he doesn’t really say that we should doubt the truth of such theories. Only that scientific reasoning does not rationally force us to accept them as true. Skepticism, or agnosticism, he argues, is warranted. SUGGESTED READING Science is based in metaphor By Andrew Reynolds But the history of atomic theory throws a monkey wrench into that argument. Atoms used to be unobservable; again, scientists first accepted the theory that they exist because it had such grandiose explanatory power. But then atoms were seen with electron microscopes. They thus moved into the category of the observable. But this didn’t substantially change anything about what scientists were justified in believing; it certainly didn’t change any “atomic skeptics’” minds. It just confirmed what everyone already knew! If the hypothesis that something exists clearly provides the best explanation for what we can observe, then the belief that it exists is what is rational. The fact that the thing itself is not technically observable does not make doubting its existence rational.What’s more, the atoms were seen with an electron microscope. But electrons are themselves unobservable. How can an electron microscope reveal an atom if electrons are not real? This leads us to what is famously known as Hilary Putnam’s “miracle argument.” It’s (not) a miraclePhilosopher Hilary Putnam’s miracle argument is somewhat famous. Basically, he argued that a scientific theory being able to repeatedly make successful predictions—even about unobservables—without being at least approximately true would require a “miracle.” In other words, it would be such an improbable occurrence that it could not rationally be believed—the better explanation for why scientific theories about unobservables make the right predictions is because the unobservable entities and structures they hypothesize exist.Van Fraassen has addressed this argument. Indeed, in his original article, where he references Alison Gopnik’s point about orgasms not being “necessary for procreation” even though the desire for orgasm “drives the creation of progeny,” he is pointing to his own argument about how organisms are not naturally selected by evolution to get true beliefs; to the extent that belief-forming processes are selected for, the ones that are selected are the ones that are useful for survival—not the ones that produce true beliefs. In the same way, van Fraassen argues, scientific theories are accepted, not because they are true, but because they aren’t falsified; they make successful predictions; that’s what makes them “stick around.” So, the fact that they make successful predictions (and thus became accepted) is not a reason to think they are true.This argument is similar to C. S. Lewis’s “argument from reason,” which he used to argue against evolution: “The truth of evolution undercuts our ability to know that it is true.” Lewis’ argument famously failed; Elizabeth Anscombe, by Lewis’s own admission, demolished Lewis in a debate on the topic, and I have explained elsewhere why modified versions of the argument fail as well. In short, it’s because it fails to recognize that a belief-forming process can make an organism more likely to survive because it reliably produces true beliefs. It is therefore not the case that beliefs generated by naturally selected belief-forming processes are automatically false or unjustified.In the same way, the reason a theory “sticks around” could be because it’s not falsified, because it “makes correct predictions.” But the reason it makes correct predictions is most likely because it is true. (In pointing this out, I am echoing the arguments of Musgrave, Lipton, Psillos, and Kitcher, who refuted van Fraassen’s argument and analogy long before his 2024 article.) It would be a huge coincidence that it could do so without being true. And that is the point of Putnam’s miracle argument. Thus, contrary to van Fraassen’s suggestion, the mere fact that a theory’s predictive success is why it “sticks around” or “becomes accepted” in the scientific community is not a reason to be skeptical about its truth. ConclusionLet me close by saying something about the fact that empiricists don’t doubt the truth of all scientific theories, just the ones that hypothesize unobservables. In today’s society, this theory is dangerous to espouse publicly. The nuance between being skeptical about all of science, and just the highly technical theories about unobservables, is guaranteed to be lost to the average reader. And there is so much unjustified skepticism and doubt about the findings of science and experts that a headline like “Science Does Not Describe Reality” could easily fuel the anti-science movement, worsen climate change denial and cause the next pandemic.This is why I believe it was important to still respond to van Fraassen’s article, a full two years after he wrote it. Not only, as I have argued, does it represent a philosophically inaccurate view of how scientific reasoning works and what scientific reasoning can do, but it is a dangerous view to boot. It should thus be rejected.
Real conservation efforts don’t ignore areas based on business
'Let us work toward real California 30x30 protections without rejecting key ecosystems for inclusion due to the clout of timber and agribusiness interests,' writes an L.A. Times reader.
Now an elder statesman, former Gov. Gray Davis surveys his career in a major Berkeley project
After 17 lengthy recording sessions and more than a decade of review and revision, Davis and the Oral History Center at Bancroft Library are releasing their monumental history of a career that help shape modern California.
Scientists develop solar tech that turns seawater to clean water
What if turning ocean water into fresh drinking water didn’t require massive amounts of energy or leave behind a trail of toxic environmental waste? Well, researchers at the University of Rochester’s Institute of Optics recently achieved this with a monumental breakthrough. The groundbreaking discovery While traditional desalination plants rely on high-energy heat or heavy pressure […] Read the original article here: Scientists develop solar tech that turns seawater to clean water
Monumental Sports & Entertainment and MedStar Health Celebrate $1.1 Million Gift to Services Supporting Women, Infants, and Community Pediatrics
/PRNewswire/ -- MedStar Health and Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE) are proud to continue their philanthropic partnership supporting some of the...
Monumental Sports & Entertainment and MedStar Health Celebrate $1.1 Million Gift to Services Supporting Women, Infants, and Community Pediatrics
/PRNewswire/ -- MedStar Health and Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE) are proud to continue their philanthropic partnership supporting some of the...
Scientists Discovered a Mysterious Force Eating Away at Cars, Bridges, and Monuments
When water slides on a surface, it can pick up an electric charge—and that can have consequences for metals exposed to the elements.
MLB's CC Sabathia Shares Health Message, Talks Hall of Fame
MLB star CC Sabathia joins TODAY to share a message about the importance of understanding your cholesterol numbers and shares his own health scare. “I was pitching in the big leagues and had no idea I had this blockage and just got lucky enough to be able to catch it,” he says. He also opens up about being inducted into the Monument Park Hall of Fame at Yankee Stadium. “It means more than going into the Hall of Fame…To be able to come to the Bronx, put on the pinstripes and succeed here…feels great.”
Rome's Colosseum closes for the day after a worker plunges to his death
Rome's Colosseum has been closed to mourn a worker who fell to his death at Italy's most-visited monument | 830 WCCO
Rome's Colosseum closes for the day after a worker plunges to his death
Rome's Colosseum has been closed to mourn a worker who fell to his death at Italy's most-visited monument | WWJ Newsradio 950
Monumental Sports & Entertainment taps LG Electronics as Capital One Arena display partner
Monumental Sports & Entertainment has named LG Electronics USA the official TV, commercial display and appliance partner of the Capital One Arena in downtown Washington, D.C.
What Will Be Inside Trump’s D.C. Arch?
President Donald Trump’s proposed triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery has undergone a significant change in purpose since the project was first presented as a monument commemorating the nation’s 250th anniversary. The 250-foot structure was designed to include public spaces, exhibits ...
Game Changers: Kelly Skoloda, Monumental Sports & Entertainment
Game Changers: Kelly Skoloda, Monumental Sports & Entertainment
Monumental Sports and Entertainment Announces Leadership Changes
Monumental Sports and Entertainment (MSE) has announced a leadership restructuring. Zach Leonsis has been named President and Vice Chairman, a newly created position overseeing financial operations, infrastructure and technology, venues,...
Dollywood’s billionaire owners plot future without Dolly Parton
Since it opened in 1986, Dollywood has been both monument to Dolly Parton and a bustling venue where visitors can wander through a replica of the two-room log cabin where
$2.1M upgrade at Rapid City arena
RAPID CITY, S.D. (KELO)– Upgraded sound and lighting effects were welcomed to the Summit Arena at the Monument last October. Now, the facility in Rapid City has brand-new video and ribbon boards. “It gives us so much more diversity when it comes to displaying the team, the graphics, the statistics; the experience overall is going […]
How Monumental Sports & Entertainment Turns ‘Full Stack’ Ownership Into A Power Play
Also in the Forbes CMO newsletter: How lack of trust in AI affects customer agent use, Meta introduces personal AI agent Muse, holiday shopping may break records.
The Gin Game coming to the Monument Arts & Cultural Center
BENNINGTON — The Monument Arts & Cultural Center (MACC) has announced its upcoming production of The Gin Game, a compelling and often humorous play that explores loneliness, pride, resentment and
Monumental Sports & Entertainment Names LG Electronics USA Official TV and Display Partner for Brand-New Capital One Arena
/PRNewswire/ -- Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE) today announced a new long-term partnership naming LG Electronics USA the Official TV, Commercial...
Monumental Sports & Entertainment Names LG Electronics USA Official TV and Display Partner for Brand-New Capital One Arena
/PRNewswire/ -- Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE) today announced a new long-term partnership naming LG Electronics USA the Official TV, Commercial...
Zach Leonsis named president, vice chair of Monumental Sports & Entertainment
Zach Leonsis, son of Monumental Sports & Entertainment founder and CEO Ted Leonsis, has been named president and vice chairman of MSE.
Monument Health earns national recognition for heart and stroke care
Monument Health earns three national Get With The Guidelines achievement awards from the American Heart Association for outstanding heart and stroke care.
Monument Health Rapid City Hospital earns ‘High Performing’ marks from U.S. News
Monument Health Rapid City Hospital is named High Performing by U.S. News & World Report for heart failure, stroke, kidney failure, and heart attack care.
Warriors' Steph Curry Linked To Spurs In Blockbuster Trade Proposal
Former teammate Stephen Jackson proposes a monumental shift, envisioning an elite veteran backcourt pairing with Victor Wembanyama to reignite championship aspirations in San Antonio.
Proposed Head Start Rule Would Further Undermine Child and Family Health
Head Start, a federal program that supports young children in low-income families, is headlining news in the early childhood policy and health worlds. Early last month, the Trump Administration released a monumental proposal to alter the program’s framework. Head Start is an essential investment in children’s wellbeing that works alongside Medicaid in child care centers, […]
Dylan Harper gets brutally honest about how Gregg Popovich has sparked his development
Dylan Harper has become a monumental player for the Spurs, and Gregg Popovich fully believes in his potential.
Dripping Springs business owners advocate for wayfinding signs
New wayfinding signs and gateway monuments may soon be installed along Hwy. 290 following a 3-2 vote by the Dripping Springs City Council at a Sep. 1 meeting.
Monumental Sports & Entertainment reaches multi-year deal with bet365
Your best source for quality Washington Wizards news, rumors, analysis, stats and scores from the fan perspective.
BOOK REVIEW: 'Charlie St. Cloud'
In the village of Marblehead, Mass., 28-year-old Charlie St. Cloud has spent his adult years taking care of the lawns and monuments of the cemetery where his younger brother, Sam,
Sen. Jim Justice on breaking Senate gridlock, honoring Medal of Honor veterans, and realities of DC politics
In a wide-ranging interview, Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va., details how a private chat saved a national monument bill, shares his candid views on Washington’s partisan gridlock.
🚨 Ponzio keeps it unchanged: River's XI vs Independiente Rivadavia
River host Independiente Rivadavia of Mendoza at the Monumental for the eighth round of Zone B of the Torneo Clausura. Here is how the two teams line up today:River Plate: S. Beltrán; Montiel, Martí...
Teams on the Rise & a Modernized Arena has Monumental Sports & Entertainment Excited About the Future in D.C.
Trump says ‘nobody will’ build monuments for him once he’s gone
(CNN) — President Donald Trump did not dispute that he is building monuments to himself amid his architectural blitz in Washington, DC, saying in a recent interview that “nobody will
30 Years of ‘Joe B. and Locker’: Monumental Sports Network Celebrates Capitals Broadcast Duo’s Milestone Season, Announces 2026-27 Capitals Local Broadcast Schedule
MNMT to broadcast 70 regular season and four preseason games, with a special celebration event planned for Joe Beninati and Craig Laughlin at upcoming Capitals game
The Cuban sculptor behind a new monument in Miami Springs of city’s founder
He represents “the American Dream,” she said.
Adaptive barrel races, roping practice highlight Monument Health special rodeo
Monument Health partnered with the Central States Fair to host a special adaptive rodeo, giving athletes with disabilities a chance to join modified events.
Monumental Sports & Entertainment partners with DAZN to stream Wizards, Mystics games
Your best source for quality Washington Wizards news, rumors, analysis, stats and scores from the fan perspective.
‘Show How 3M Is 0% at Fault:’ Expert Witness Used ChatGPT to Write Report Defending Company in Deadly Explosion Lawsuit
ChatGPT prompts show how an expert witness report was created in a $61 million lawsuit over an explosion that killed three people.
Foushee calls for audit of Women's Equality National Monument
A constituent visit to the monument led to Rep. Foushee sending a letter to the National Park Service to ask for an audit of the Belmont-Paul site.
“Monumental Sports & Entertainment Unveils Bold Vision for Brand-New Capital One Arena”
courtesy Monumental Sports & Entertainment From Monumental Sports & Entertainment: "Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE) and Capital One today unveiled the next chapter of Capital One Arena: a world-class, next-generation sports and entertainment destination built to bring fans, athletes, businesses, and the broader Washington community together in the nation's capital. The transformation represents a significant
Siouxland Business Spotlight: Hall Monument
Siouxland Business Spotlight host Amy Nilles spoke with Susan Lindgen from Hall Monument to discuss the company’s services.
Monumental, Capital One renew arena naming-rights deal for two more decades
Monumental Sports and Entertainment and Capital One Arena have extended their arena naming rights deal for two more decades.
Monumental Sports & Entertainment Unveils Bold Vision for Brand-New Capital One Arena
/PRNewswire/ -- Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE) and Capital One today unveiled the next chapter of Capital One Arena: a world-class, next-generation...
MSE Unveils Bold Vision for Brand-New Capital One Arena
20-year naming rights extension launches the next chapter of Capital One Arena as part of Capital One’s continued commitment to its hometown Monumental unveils fresh videos and renderings of a brand-new arena in downtown D.C. CLICK HERE FOR NEW ARENA RENDERINGS AND VIDEO Credit: Monumental Sports & Entertainment WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 11, 2026) – Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE) and Capital
North Carolina nurse practitioner honors legacy of son with gala for health equity
This weekend, healthcare professionals, and community leaders will gather in Raleigh for the inaugural Monumental Nurses Ball Black Tie Gala, hosted by the Varian Legacy Foundation.
Worrying Warning Given To Maple Leafs Despite Offseason Moves
Among the busiest teams in the NHL so far this offseason have been the Toronto Maple Leafs, who not only made monumental changes to their roster, but to their front office and coaching staff.The Leafs, who missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in a decade, lucked out by winning the NHL Draft […] The post Worrying Warning Given To Maple Leafs Despite Offseason Moves appeared first on HEAVY.
As he wrestles with the monumental and the absurd, Trump forgets what voters want
President Donald Trump is trying to shape how he’s remembered through his transformations of Washington’s monuments, official buildings and grassy parks — and the honors boards at his golf clubs.
Saturday night Orioles game thread, vs. Phillies, 7:05 ET
After last night’s thrilling win, the Orioles face a monumental task in solving lefty Christopher Sánchez.
Caps Care Year in Review: Capitals and MSE Foundation Raise More Than $1.8 Million for Charity During 2025-26 Season
Through fundraising and programming efforts, the Capitals, its players and Monumental Sports & Entertainment Foundation supported numerous organizations in an array of missions
Trump reduces size of 2 national monuments in Utah
The move to shrink Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments by about 90% unravels protections established by former presidents for areas with unique archaeological and historical features
T. Rex 'Gus' Could Make History, Then Disappear
Experts fear monumental fossil heading to auction will be lost to science
Inside Jay-Z’s glorious 30-year celebration at Yankee Stadium with Beyoncé, Blue Ivy and more
An epic night of surprises awaited fans for the rap icon's monumental anniversary concert in the Bronx Friday
Trump Is Building Monuments to Himself in D.C. While Ruining Democracy
President Trump's efforts to build monuments to himself in Washington D.C. can't hide the destruction he's doing to the democracy around the world.
Ancient DNA reveals the mysterious collapse of Europe's megalith builders
DNA from a 5,000-year-old French megalithic tomb reveals that the people buried before and after a population collapse were genetically unrelated, pointing to a major migration after a devastating crisis. The shift coincided with new social traditions and the disappearance of the communities that built Europe's giant stone monuments.
Trump returns to Mount Rushmore after years of hinting he belongs there
The White House says there would be “no better addition” to Mount Rushmore than Trump, who last month posted an image of his face on the monument.
Trump heads to Mount Rushmore, where efforts to impose his likeness have stalled
President Donald Trump returns to Mount Rushmore on Friday, and though the president has openly mused about adding his likeness to the storied national monument, it’s unclear if he can move the mountains necessary to make it happen.
Regulated Entertainment Platforms Have Built a Home in the NBA
The evolution of entertainment platforms in sports broadcasting has been monumental. See how the technology enhances the viewer experience.
Building Business: New hotel taking shape on Portland's Monument Square
Zachau Construction is transforming the former Fidelity Trust building into a 101-room luxury hotel, for Jim Brady’s Fathom Cos.
Buckingham Palace without the king? Charles reveals plans for landmark's future
Buckingham Palace is having a monumental glow up, but King Charles III and Queen Camilla still don't want to live there.
Suit alleges new NCAA rule unfair to high school Class of 2022
Less than 24 hours after the NCAA Division I Cabinet approved a monumental change in eligibility rules, a group of 15 college basketball players filed a lawsuit iclaiming the new age-based model unfairly shuts them out of further competition.
Clive Davis, monumental music producer and record industry titan, has died
Clive Davis, the legendary music producer of industry icons from Janis Joplin and Whitney Houston to Billy Joel and Santana, has died.
Clive Davis, monumental music producer and record industry titan, has died
(CNN) — Clive Davis, the legendary music producer of industry icons from Janis Joplin and Whitney Houston to Billy Joel and Santana, has died.
Monumental Sports & Entertainment Introduces New Theater Boxes At Capital One Arena
As part of the ongoing transformation of Capital One Arena in downtown Washington, D.C., Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE) announced the debut of
Algae, peeling blue material, conspiracy theories: Reflecting Pool takes national spotlight
Earlier this year, President Donald Trump described the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool as “absolutely filthy,” vowing to clean up the iconic landmark and make it “look gorgeous, beautiful” so it again reflects the federal monuments around it.
"Lost Civilizations" Linked by DNA: What Scientists Just Uncovered Changes Everything - Futura-Sciences
Megalithic Mysteries: A Shared Heritage Revealed At the closing of the Neolithic era, roughly between 4500 and 2800 BCE, vast megalithic monuments began to rise across Europe. These massive stone structures, often used as collective burial chambers, are a testament not only to strong local traditions but also hint at...
Barack Obama confronts the work that remains for Democrats
Former President Barack Obama on Thursday is getting what he wanted for so long: his words carved into stone, a monument to his presidency entering the Chicago skyline.
Why is Trump’s threat to the Ocean Observatories Initiative so monumental to scientists?
Researchers warn that shuttering a key network of research equipment and analysis will make the country less prepared for climate crises
Android 17 starts hitting Pixel phones and watches today
Pixels will get their OTA in the coming weeks, but don't expect monumental changes.
Cape Verde XI vs Spain – Predicted lineup and team news
Cape Verde face Spain in Atlanta on Monday to make absolute World Cup history.This monumental match represents their first-ever appearance at the global finals, completing a remarkable journey. The Bl...
Destiny 2 Players Find Quick Farm For New Tier 5 Armor Sets
Destiny 2 players discover an efficient method to quickly farm some of the newly added Tier 5 armor sets from Monument of Triumph.
Bungie's Last 'Destiny 2' Update Is a Bittersweet Blast
The 'Monuments of Triumph' update lets 'Destiny 2' go out on its own terms, tie up some threads, and lay crumbs for a hopeful return.
In Retrospect: Poland, Russia, Europe
In April I spent a few days with Zryw, a Polish non-profit organization that recruits young people to enter politics and public life. Their aim is to build a new generation of civic leaders in Poland. I’ve followed their evolution from the beginning; my son is one of the founders. (“Zryw” means “impulse” or “burst of speed” in Polish). Julie Chmielewska, one of Zryw’s leaders, interviewed me at the event. Here is the conversation, lightly edited for grammar and context: Julia Chmielewska: Assuming that culture shapes institutions, could we conclude that some cultures are more prone to authoritarianism? Anne Applebaum: I don’t think so. Every culture, every nation, and every country has the potential for change. When we look at history, we can see that nations do change. Poland has changed, for example, from the 1980s to today. There’s a completely different mentality here than the one I encountered when I first visited, in 1988. The current generation sees the world through a different frame. So no, I don’t believe that certain nations are doomed to authoritarianism, or to anything. Of course, there are political and cultural traditions, but they can always be challenged. JC: So do you think there’s something intrinsic in human nature that pushes people to democracy, freedom? AA: I think there is something in human nature, a deep instinct, that pushes people towards freedom, yes. People who live in authoritarian countries – and I’ve heard this from them over and over again – sooner or later find themselves angered by a feeling of helplessness. They can see the unfairness of crooked courts, irrational political decisions. They naturally dislike the fact that somebody has all the power while they have none. In those circumstances, people who have no political background at all sometimes are politicized just by that frustration. I’m thinking of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, for example, who was a Belarusian housewife, until the circumstances of her husband’s arrest forced her to become a politician. I met a woman who is a Uyghur from China, and who had come to live in Turkey. After several of her family members were arrested, she too was propelled into a political role. These kinds of experiences make people interested in democracy or political reform, even if they thought they didn’t care. I also think that the opposite is true: some people instinctively prefer homogeneity, order, hierarchy. They don’t like the confrontation of opinions or the noise of debate, and they lean towards a single leader or a unified regime. I think that most of modern history is shaped by the clash between those two different sides of human nature. JC: Which force do you find more powerful today? AA: I think they both have a lot of power and there’s no way of predicting who wins. Even in countries that seem very shut off or stuck in an authoritarian system can change. We’ve seen that happen. And vice versa, I think democracies can also begin to fail and slide into authoritarianism. So it’s very important not to be complacent in either direction. JC: I want to go into your history and your experiences. You’ve lived in Russia during a time of incredible change in the late 80s, and then you came back to do research in post-Soviet Russia. AA: I was a student in Russia just before the collapse of the Soviet Union. I then traveled and worked there extensively in the 1990s, and I met people who really were full of hope. They hoped that Russia could become a democracy, or at least a place that guaranteed freedom of speech, freedom of the press. These weren’t ideas that came from Washington. Although now the narrative in the Kremlin is different, I met many people who were working towards exactly that kind of transformation. A friend of mine ran a series of seminars – once a year, and then later several times a year, in cities all over Russia – designed to get people to discuss politics in new ways. She invited young politicians and journalists, as well as foreigners. I went to many of them, in Moscow as well as Volgograd and Novosibirsk. Over two decades, hundreds of people came to these seminars, and all of them wanted Russia to be different. I remain convinced that many Russians still want Russia to be different. It’s just that the old system, in the form of Putin, a representative of that system, returned. The KGB reimposed their power. And this wasn’t because of something to do with culture, this was to do with money and politics, and who was in charge. JC: You’ve partially answered my question... I wanted to ask whether that excitement of the 1990s was an exception from the Russian historical norm which has been rather authoritarian? AA: Of course, if you look at the history of Russia since the 18th century, there have always been liberal groups, reformers and revolutionaries. There were the Decembrists, in the early 19th century, and the rural populists later on, who tried to organize the peasantry. A significant group of liberal Russians appeared at the turn of the 20th century, people like the father of the writer Vladimir Nabokov, who was a Russian politician before the revolution. These groups were small in number, but sometimes had a broader significance. The Russian dissident movement in the 1950s and 1960s actually invented the modern human rights movement. It was their idea to hold the leaders of the Soviet Union accountable for the language they used, to remind them of the treaties they had signed and the promised they had made. They created the Helsinki group, for example, that held Soviet leadership to the language of the Helsinki Treaty, which formally ended the Second World War and which contained guarantees of human rights, at least on paper. That idea spread to Eastern Europe, and similar tactics were used here in Poland. (Benjamin Nathans recently wrote a great book about the Soviet dissidents, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause) JC: But seemingly, even if they do ever get power, they could never hold on to it. AA: We don’t know, because they have never really had power. But in any case, we also don’t know what will happen in the future. There is no reason to assume that Russia will forever be condemned to totalitarianism. Even during the first fifteen years of Putin’s regime there was some form of democratic politics. Only when the full-scale war began did he bring everything to an end: he shut down all remaining independent organizations and killed his most important opponent, Alexi Navalny. But does that mean he is popular, that he enjoys legitimacy? Even now, we don’t really know what Russians think about him, or about the war. There is no way of doing real polling in Russia because nobody will answer an independent pollster over the phone. JC: Do you think that the flock of young people, especially young men, who fled Russia after the start of the war represent a continuation of liberal movements that refuse to partake in the authoritarian state, or do you think they are moving for the sake of self-preservation – “I don’t want to go to the army, so I leave”? AA: I’m sure it’s both. I actually know many people who left Russia for political reasons either in the very last years before the war, or else just after the war began. JC: And do you see a change in the young generation versus the old one that have fled? AA: It’s hard for me to say because the people who I know were mostly already politicized. I do know some younger people who left, but most of them were already either active in the opposition, or working as journalists. Many of them very self-consciously think of themselves as maintaining Russian culture abroad, just as in the 20th century the Soviet dissidents or the anti-communist White Russians once thought of themselves as people who maintained the true Russian culture, outside of Bolshevik Russia. JC: Let’s move on to Poland. One of your first experiences with Poland was reporting on Margaret Thatcher’s first state visit, in the autumn of 1988. You followed her around the farmers’ market. AA: She was making a symbolic gesture. She wanted to welcome free markets, but the only one she could really visit was the farmers’ market at Hala Mirowska. JC: And I want to talk about this area because today you can look out of any window in that district, Mirów, and see rows and rows of skyscrapers. How does it feel to see a country built from the ground in such a short time, both politically and economically? AA: You know, when you’re living in a period of dramatic change, it’s always hard to know whether the change is positive or negative. The transformation in Poland created winners and losers, as well as new classes of people, new political movements of different kinds. At the time, it sometimes just felt like turbulence. Now, we can look back at the 1990s and early 2000s in Poland and see in retrospect that the country was headed in towards prosperity and European integration. In around 2009 or 2010, I remember speaking to a woman who worked cleaning government offices, and who asked me if her daughter should study in Amsterdam or in London. This seemed to me to be a real transformation, and it happened very fast: within a few years, Poles stopped feeling like second-class Europeans, and a generation of younger Poles appeared who had no qualms about crossing borders. JC: We again live in turbulent times. Do you think we’re heading towards positive outcomes? AA: I can’t make predictions, because everything that happens tomorrow depends on what people do today. Also, history doesn’t have a trajectory. It doesn’t move in a particular direction. You only think it does afterwards. As I said, you can look afterwards at Poland in the 1990s and you could say this was a period of great progress. But not everybody at the time saw that. Sometimes people are very wrong about a given country’s trajectory. I remember people writing about Ukraine in the 1990s, about how dangerous it was that Ukraine was independent, that this was going to be an anti-semitic state, that Ukrainian nationalism was going to come back... and although you can say many bad things about Ukraine, the country made many bad choices, actually it became a pretty tolerant state which now has a Jewish president and until recently a Muslim defense minister. JC: In the 1990s Poland’s and Ukraine’s GDP were roughly similar. Ukraine was even a bit richer. So the starting point was similar for both of these countries, but they’ve turned out very, very differently. Even if we stop in 2014. Why do you think Ukraine “chose East”? Was it external influence? AA: No, I think Ukraine was in a different position. First of all, central and eastern Ukraine had been part of the Soviet Union since the 1920s, and had therefore experienced a longer period of occupation, repression, Sovietization and even Russification. Ukraine did not have, as Poland did, an alternative elite: a large cadre of economists and politicians, who already had some experience in opposition politics and in independent thinking. In Poland, the transformative finance minister, Leszek Balcerowicz, had already thought about how an economy might be decentralized before he took office. We can argue about how successful he was, but at least he was prepared to try something new. In Ukraine, people weren’t prepared. For one, there hadn’t been much space even for an illegal opposition in the previous couple of decades. Ukraine was also in many ways still emerging from colonial occupation. For the previous couple of centuries, many of the most capable Ukrainians had moved to Russia, and the first generation of leaders in independent Ukraine tended to be former Soviet apparatchiks. They didn’t immediately seek to become closer to western Europe. Instead, they looked for some kind of economic and political “third way” and an accomodation with Russia. Ukraine became stuck in this position, half-in, half-out and became pretty profoundly corrupt. JC: The Polish alternative elite had a vision of where they wanted the country to go. I think the general perception now is that this vision ends with the next election, right? Is this a natural process of gaining power? AA: Their vision, and it was shared by the time by politicians who now call themselves both left and right, was that Poland should join the EU and NATO, as fast as possible. My husband (Radek Sikorski) was in the very first government that said it wanted to join NATO. At the time this was taken very badly in Washington: the demand for NATO membership absolutely came from Poland, not from the US. But even then, in the early 1990s, many Poles already understood that the Russian sphere of influence would grow once again, that it was important to become part of the transatlantic alliance and an integrated Europe as fast as possible: NATO, the EU, the Council of Europe, all of the trading and security alliances. That consensus lasted through several different governments and over many years, even governments containing former communists. For twenty years, right, left and center disagreed about many things, but they all agreed on the direction that the country should go. In retrospect, that consensus created the basis for prosperity in Poland. JC: And regarding the Polish-Ukrainian relations. We know that antagonisms, e.g. the myth of Wołyń [a massacre of Poles that took place in what is now Western Ukraine, in 1943] are increasingly used in Polish political discourse today. In Ukraine, nationalist historians make heroes out of UPA, the Ukrainian revolutionary army, which is held responsible for this tragedy. Where do you see a start for burying the hatchet? Is the reconciliation of our nations possible? AA: So here’s a strange thing: For more than a decade after they both gained independence, Poland and Ukraine participated in a number of projects that were designed to solve exactly these kinds of Polish-Ukrainian differences. Books were published that were jointly written by Polish and Ukrainian historians, monuments were built. These projects were successful: If you’d asked me this question in 2010, I would have said that there are no real historical issues between Poland and Ukraine, that the two countries had mostly reconciled. For a number of reasons, this began to shift. In Poland, children and grandchildren of victims of the Wołyń massacre felt their tragedy hadn’t been fully recognized. In Ukraine, nationalist groups wanted the UPA partisans who had fought against the Soviet Union recognized for their heroism, despite the fact that some in this broad and not well-defined group were also linked to Wołyń. In both eastern Poland and western Ukraine, the memory of the ethnic cleansing that took place there in the late 1940s - Poles were moved West, Ukrainians East - to accomodate new borders has left feelings of displacement and bitterness. The wave of Ukrainian immigration, which started before the war, may have provoked some of this. But don’t underestimate the role played by Russia, which has always wanted to create discord between Poland and Ukraine, and pumps out propaganda to that effect in both countries. Vandalism on both sides of the border, damage done to cemeteries and monuments, is sometimes carried out by provacateurs working for Russia, just to create bad feelings. The Polish-Ukrainian conflict also hides a different reality: although there are real grievances and bad memories, the truth is that the biggest tragedies both nations experienced in the twentieth century were inflicted by the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. That should unite these two countries, not divide them. JC: This week (19.04.2026 – Ed.) in Hungary we saw that using historical narratives to create grievance has no longer worked. Are you optimistic about the direction after Orban’s loss? AA: The Hungarian election was really important because it shows that people can actually resist powerful, dominant propaganda. The ruling party Fidesz controlled all of the TV, 90% of the newspapers, the constitutional court, the bureaucracy... and yet people had the nerve to vote against it and resist it. It’s also an important election because Hungary created a huge network of well-funded think tanks and foundations that were funding other far right groups and projects. So that loss is going to have a knock-on effect in other places too, maybe even in Poland. JC: What you’ve said about resisting propaganda reminds me of one of the interviews you did about talking to Russians in the post-Soviet era who claimed that people knew that the system was lying. Why do people choose to believe in these regimes anyway? AA: Because it’s useful. Stephen Kotkin, an American historian, once described how people would learn how to “speak Bolshevik”: It was just a language that you needed to use in order to get by in society. If you didn’t talk the way the regime wanted you to talk, then you might have problems, or lose your job, or your kids would not get into university. It was a way of getting along. Communist Poland was similar, at least in the early years. When I was writing a book about the Sovietization of Eastern Europe after World War II, I met a lot of people who wanted to talk a lot about the war, when many of them had done really heroic things. But almost nobody wanted to talk about the decade afterwards, between 1945 and 1956. This was when you had the short period of terror, violence and Polish Stalinism. To stay safe, people felt the need to just go along with what others were saying, or stay out of politics, or use communist jargon without necessarily believing it. I don’t judge them for it, and I wouldn’t describe all of those people as collaborators. It’s easy to feel moral certainty in retrospect, because we know that communism ended. But if you were living in 1949, it might not have been clear to you that communism was going to end. In very repressive societies, maybe about 10% of people who are really evil – collaborators, torturers. Maybe 10% of people are really brave and who find ways to resist. And then around 80% of people have kids, they have parents, they have to have jobs and they’ve had to get through it somehow. Strange though it may sound, I’ve found that the work I did on that book is now very useful in explaining some of what’s going on in the United States today. There are plenty of members of the Republican Party in Congress who know perfectly well that Donald Trump says many things that aren’t true. But they avoid criticizing him because it’s inconvenient, because they would get in trouble, because someone would attack them on the internet. So actually you don’t even need mass terror to get people to conform. JC: Is Gen Z reinventing agency? AA: We’ll see. In any generation you can find groups of people who want agency. If you live in a society that’s unfair, for example where a tiny number of people have captured most of the wealth, then at a certain point people rebel. This is always easier for younger people, who have you have less to lose. The question now is how the internet will affect the relationships between citizens and the state, and how it will change organizations. The “Twitter revolutions” people spoke about as early as 2008-9, mass protests organized online, have often proved to be very superficial. Although you can easily join something just by clicking, the work of creating a real movement requires physical participation. Successful mass movements of the past, for example the Civil Rights movement in the United States, were built by people who had spent many years together. They had participated in non-violent workshops together. They practiced and prepared. Just using the you can get everybody to show up at a certain moment, but then when the protest is broken up, nothing happens. It’s also true that the repressive regimes have more recently learned how to use the internet to undermine leaders and movements. Most of all, they now understand how to make people cynical. The form of propaganda that most modern authoritarians use - and I think the Russians really pioneered this - deploys sneering cynicism. Instead of praising the rulers, the regime propagandists mock the opposition movement leadership for being supposedly corrupt or sexually degenerate, with the goal of undermining any kind of idealism. JC: MAGA grew on the internet? AA: MAGA is a real grassroots movement. They had symbols, red hats, they showed up at rallies. But you’re right that the cynicism, the sarcasm and the distrust that the movement embodies came originally from the internet, and this is different. Fifty years ago, most European political parties had a social base in real organizations, in trade unions for Social Democrats, in church groups for Christian Democrats. As people stopped going to church and as the trade unions became smaller, the social base of these parties disappeared. Now people who wouldn’t have known one another in the past meet on the internet and create new movements, many of which don’t last. JC: Is history ending? Going in stale circles? AA: History never ends. In truth, human beings want contradictory things at the same time: order and freedom, stability and change. These things are never resolved, and when a society swings too far in one direction, people always push it the other way. But each time that happens, the result is different. Certainly it is true that we are now in a period when old philosophers and ideas from the 1930s are undergoing a revival. Carl Schmitt, who was a philosopher who was very influential on the Nazis, is back as an influence on both the far left and the far right, once again inspiring people to think that all politics has to be existential, that all politics is about defining and defeating enemies. In the US, some are also bringing back dominionism, the idea that we need a Christian and not a secular state. It’s also true that we are living through a more fundamental shift. The old left-right divide, which was mostly about the size of the state, is much less important now. Instead, we are arguing about more fundamental things: what are our rights, what protects our freedom. Or how much power do we want to give small elites, versus how much power to give ordinary people. In America a small group of very wealthy people now control information, because they control the social media platforms and AI, which means they determine what people will read and learn. Finding a way to preserve preserve zones of autonomy and independent thinking, this is going to be the main task for the next generation. JC: What is the one book that a person interested in Central Europe should read? AA: You could read my book “Iron Curtain: the Crushing of Eastern Europe” which tells the story of how the Soviet Union imposed its culture on the region. Or read Tim Snyder’s history of the region, “The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus 1569-1999.” And everyone should read “The Captive Mind” by Czesław Miłosz, which describes exactly the phenomenon we were talking about: why do people collaborate? I joined Scott Galloway and the brilliant Fiona Hill in a discussion about the wars in Ukraine and Iran, the future of global power, and what these conflicts reveal about America's role in the world. Scott told us that this was the 400th edition of his podcast, which is quite a number: My friend Francesco Chiamulera runs a brilliant series of literary events, Una Colline di Libri, A Hill of Books, in the Prosecco Hills, a region of vineyards and elegant hill towns in the Veneto, north of Venice. We did an event in Vittorio Veneto and also drove and biked around the countryside. Buy Autocracy Inc Buy Iron Curtain Open Letters, from Anne Applebaum is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe
Trump admin must restore displays at national parks by July 4, judge rules
Federal judge orders exhibits and signs on topics like slavery and climate change that were removed be put back at parks and monuments by July 4th.
Trump administration must re-install exhibits on slavery, climate change and other topics at national parks, judge rules
President Donald Trump last year directed the Interior Department to make changes to parks, monuments and memorials to address any “false revision of history.”
Trump administration must restore history, science materials at parks, US judge rules
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Friday to reinstall exhibits and signs touching on topics like slavery and climate change that it had removed from parks and monuments nationwide.
Trump administration must restore history, science materials at parks, US judge rules
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Friday to reinstall exhibits and signs touching on topics like slavery and climate change that it had removed from parks and monuments nationwide "that do not align with its preferred narrative."
Destiny 2’s Monument Of Triumph Update Is A Beautiful, Tragic Ending
Destiny 2's finale update, Monument of Triumph, has arrived, and it's everything it needed to be. But it's an utter tragedy the game will die after this.
MSE Receives Seven Industry Honors
Led by Monumental Sports Network's Sports Media Platform of the Year honor and MSE Productions' Best Documentary, Long Form award, MSE earned additional recognition for innovation, storytelling, production excellence, and fan engagement Washington, D.C. (June 8, 2026)— Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE) was recognized with seven awards across two of the sports industry's most prestigious awards
MSE Receives Seven Industry Honors
Led by Monumental Sports Network's Sports Media Platform of the Year honor and MSE Productions' Best Documentary, Long Form award, MSE earned additional recognition for innovation, storytelling, production excellence, and fan engagement Washington, D.C. (June 8, 2026)— Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE) was recognized with seven awards across two of the sports industry's most prestigious awards
Monument Health announces executive leadership updates
Monument Health promoted Paula McInerney-Hall to general counsel and named Ross McKie vice president of philanthropy, effective June 8, the system announced.
Elevate Rapid City to honor Black Hills business leaders June 9 at The Monument
Business and community leaders will gather June 9 at The Monument for Elevate Rapid City’s 2026 Elevate Business Awards Night honoring regional impact.
West River Health Science Center graduates 122 nurses in first full year
The West River Health Science Center graduated 122 registered nurses in its first full year. Monument Health says scholarships and partnerships are growing the region’s nursing pipeline.
West River Health Science Center graduates 122 nurses in first full year
The West River Health Science Center graduated 122 registered nurses in its first full year. Monument Health says scholarships and partnerships are growing the region’s nursing pipeline.
Walking Forward cancer program returns to Monument Health after decades serving Native communities
Walking Forward is returning to Monument Health, continuing its work to reduce cancer disparities through navigation, education and screenings for Native communities in western South Dakota.