Unattended Baggage, episode 318
Source: Unattended Baggage
“Maybe we could all use some ‘Quiet Time.'” (11/22/25)
https://unattendedbaggage.substack.com/p/episode-318-maybe-we-could-all-use
Author: Thomas L. Knapp
Separatist candidate wins presidential vote in Bosnia’s Serb region
Source: Reuters
“A close ally of Bosnia’s Serb Republic separatist leader Milorad Dodik won a snap presidential election in a tight race with opposition candidate, the election commission said on Sunday, citing preliminary results. ‘According to preliminary, unofficial and incomplete results, Sinisa Karan won 50.89% of the votes,’ Jovan Kalaba, the commission’s president, said at a news conference. Kalaba said that opposition candidate Branko Blanusa of the Serb Democratic Party (SDS) won 47.81% of the votes. Turnout was low at 35.78%, compared with 53% during a general vote in 2022, he said. … Pro-Russian separatist Dodik was convicted in February of defying the constitutional court and an international peace envoy, leading to Bosnia’s biggest political crisis since the end of its devastating war 30 years ago. He repeatedly rejected the verdict but in October unexpectedly appointed a loyal ally as his temporary replacement and annulled a series of separatist laws previously adopted in parliament.” (11/24/25)
Taiwan: Takaichi Strikes a Long-Needed Blow Against “Strategic Ambiguity”
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“Taiwan is not now, and never has been, part of the People’s Republic of China. … But whenever any politician on the world stage publicly mentions, or even alludes to, that fact, Chinese politicians rattle their sabers militarily while threatening, ‘diplomatically,’ to throw themselves on the floor and hold their breath until they turn blue. To placate Beijing, western regimes have generally adopted policies of ‘strategic ambiguity.’ They conduct friendly relations with Taiwan while not ‘recognizing’ its status as independent, and provide Taiwan with military assistance of various kinds while very carefully NOT openly saying they’d help it defend itself against invasion. ‘Strategic ambiguity’ is the worst of two worlds when it comes to foreign policy.” (11/23/25)
Cold snap tied to polar vortex set to threaten US Thanksgiving travel
Source: Axios
“Thanksgiving is forecast to be colder and with more snow than usual across large swathes of the U.S., threatening to snarl what the AAA is projecting to be record holiday traffic. The National Weather Service warns the ‘polar vortex,’ an area of cold air around the Arctic, could expand southwards and combine with two other factors to bring ‘cooler than normal temperatures’ from Seattle to Dallas and across to Chicago this Thanksgiving week. … nearly 82 million Americans are expected to embark on Thanksgiving holiday road trips and the TSA prepares to screen an estimated 17.8 million air travelers from this Tuesday.” (11/24/25)
The Democratic Party Is Offering a False Choice Between Socialism and Technocracy
Source: Reason
by Jacob R Swartz
“The unity that once held the Democratic Party together has given way to ideological meandering, oscillating between ‘woke’ moralistic left-wing populism and technocratic managerialism. These two impulses now define its fractured identity: the former emerging from the Occupy movement and the momentum of Bernie Sanders'[s] presidential campaigns, the latter from the evolution of the Clinton-era ‘New Democrat’ consensus. The 2025 elections crystallized the divide through two major victories — socialist outsider Zohran Mamdani in New York City and Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, who’s more in line with the neoliberal wing. Each has been called the party’s ‘future,’ though their wins more clearly reveal how ideologically hollow the party’s core has become.” (11/23/25)
Lebanon: Top Hezbollah official killed in Israeli strike
Source: CBC News [Canadian state media]
“Israel on Sunday struck Lebanon’s capital for the first time since June, saying it killed Hezbollah’s chief of staff Haytham Tabtabai and warning the Iran-backed militant group not to rearm and rebuild a year after their latest war. The strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs killed five people and wounded 25 others, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said. Hezbollah confirmed Tabtabai’s death. … Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun in a statement condemned the strike and accused Israel of refusing to implement its end of the ceasefire agreement.” (11/23/25)
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/israel-strike-hezbollah-beirut-9.6989505
MAGA’s $300 million heist
Source: The Watch
by Radley Balko
“In the 15 years between 2009 and 2024, more than 500 people in Texas were exonerated after being imprisoned for crimes they did not commit. … The state paid them just under $156 million …. Last year, New York City paid out $205 million to settle 956 lawsuits alleging police abuse. … I bring up these figures because, according to multiple reports, Donald Trump is about to order the government to pay him ‘damages’ for the FBI raid on his Mar-a-Lago mansion and for special prosecutor Jack Smith’s two investigations of him …. He’s going to pay himself $230 million. So Trump — who didn’t spend a minute behind bars — [is] about to swindle about 50 percent more than the total amount of money paid to the 97 innocent people who were incarcerated for more than 1,200 years in Texas. Or about 12 percent more than the total paid last year to 957 victims of police brutality in New York City.” (11/21/25)
Headless politics
Source: The Peaceful Revolutionist
by David S D’Amato
“Although anarchism is usually treated as an outlier political philosophy, structurally it describes the conditions under which most human groups have actually governed themselves before the formation of the state. Many human communities still of course live beyond the reaches of the murdering, pathological state. … Whatever we think of the way these societies are structured and governed, it is clear that there are elements of intentional power-preemption, centrifugal mechanisms for maintaining a deliberately headless politics.” (11/22/25)
Slovenians reject assisted-dying law in national referendum
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“Slovenians on Sunday voted to suspend a new law to legalise assisted dying in a referendum held after critics mounted a campaign against the legislation. Around 53 percent of voters had rejected the law, while 47 percent voted in favour, meaning its implementation will be suspended for at least one year. Slovenia’s parliament had approved a law in July allowing assisted dying after a 2024 referendum supported it. But the new vote was called after a civil group, backed by the Catholic Church and the conservative parliamentary opposition, gathered 46,000 signatures in favour of a repeat, exceeding the 40,000 required.” (11/23/25)
https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20251123-slovenia-assisted-dying-law-referendum
How to Fix It with John Avlon, 11/23/25
Source: The Bulwark
“Leaders Without Character Break Democracies (w/ Ryan Holiday).” (11/23/25)