Order Up: Anne Applebaum in The Atlantic: “For a long time—too long—the custodians of the liberal world order refused to understand these changes. They looked away when Russia ‘pacified’ Chechnya by murdering tens of thousands of people. When Russia bombed schools and hospitals in Syria, Western leaders decided that that wasn’t their problem. When Russia invaded Ukraine the first time, they found reasons not to worry. Surely Putin would be satisfied by the annexation of Crimea. When Russia invaded Ukraine the second time, occupying part of the Donbas, they were sure he would be sensible enough to stop … There is no natural liberal world order, and there are no rules without someone to enforce them.”

+ Thomas the Crank Engine: The purpose of the Ginni Thomas texts “was not to lament the result; it was to encourage efforts to overturn it. That would be worrisome enough, but what makes it doubly so is the arguments invoked, the sources cited, and the mindset revealed in these raw, unfiltered texts. They are a window into a very distorted, very disturbed world.” Peter Wehner in The Atlantic: A Glimpse Into a Fearful, Angry, Imaginary World. (Sadly, I’d add powerful to that list.)

+ The Blind Leading the Blind (and the rest of us): “We like to tell ourselves that geniuses go it alone. When a success story involves a person with a disability, it is often framed as an act of overcoming, an inspiring tale of perseverance in the face of unimaginable tragedy: losing a sense or gaining an impediment. But the story of The Cave shows quite the opposite, that genius is forged by community, in the sharing of information, tools, and resources. That disability is not a curse.” Stat News: ‘Where the bats hung out’: How a basement hideaway at UC Berkeley nurtured a generation of blind innovators.