“At the base, there are massive underlying conditions that are changing in the same way that the Earth’s tectonic plates shift—climate, migration, globalization, tribalism—and lava flows into the base of the volcano. At the layer above, you have what I think of as accelerants, like the rise of social media—things like Russian interference—and democratic distortions—like partisan gerrymandering.” Evan Osnos in The New Yorker: Why Democracy Is on the Decline in the United States. (It starts with economic inequality and bubbles over from there…)

+ Daily Beast: Putin is Now Positioned to Be President for Life.