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Fred Kaplan

@fredmkaplan.bsky.social

2K followers 260 following 330 posts

Slate's War Stories columnist; author of The Bomb, Dark Territory, The Insurgents, 1959, Daydream Believers, The Wizards of Armageddon, and--most recently--A Capital Calamity (a novel); also jazz critic for Tracking Angle.

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Fred Kaplan @fredmkaplan.bsky.social · 4h

Why Biden didn't get the Gaza peace deal that Trump got--though, then again, what Trump got wasn't quite a peace deal either. slate.com/news-and-pol...

Why Couldn’t Biden Get the Results Trump Just Did in the Middle East?

The question is a bit premature.

slate.com

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Reposted by Fred Kaplan

The Brian Lehrer Show @thebrianlehrershow.bsky.social · 3d

Hear @fredmkaplan.bsky.social's analysis on the ceasefire and what comes next. www.wnyc.org/story/what-c...

What Comes Next for Israel and Gaza? | The Brian Lehrer Show | WNYC

Slate's War Stories columnist Fred Kaplan offers analysis on what comes next for Israel and Gaza.

www.wnyc.org

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Fred Kaplan @fredmkaplan.bsky.social · 3d

Yes, people back then memorized phone numbers.

Fred Kaplan @fredmkaplan.bsky.social · 3d

I’m on @BrianLehrer show @WNYC at around 11:40am today (Mon, 10/13) to talk about the Israel-Hamas ceasefire.

Fred Kaplan @fredmkaplan.bsky.social · 6d

How Trump engineered the ceasefire, and why he probably can't drive the peace train much farther. slate.com/news-and-pol...

The Real Reason Trump Forced Netanyahu’s Hand on a Gaza Ceasefire

Trump made Netanyahu phone the Qatari emir to apologize for attacking his country and promising never to do it again.

slate.com

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Fred Kaplan @fredmkaplan.bsky.social · 8d

Today Trump held a “roundtable” on antifa; said the mayor of Chicago and governor of Illinois should be jailed for resisting ICE; now (accdg to NBC) is mulling the Insurrection Act. Will any GOP lawmakers stand up and say No?

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Reposted by Fred Kaplan

MidCenturyCinema @midcenturycinema.bsky.social · 9d

10/7/55: 1st reading of Allen Ginsberg’s Howl (“I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness")
In 1957 Lawrence Ferlinghetti of City Lights Bookstore arrested for publishing it
More:
@thehighsign.bsky.social: slate.com/culture/2010...
@fredmkaplan.bsky.social: slate.com/news-and-pol...

How "Howl" changed the world.

Howl may be the unlikeliest movie ever to come out of Sundance with national distribution: a translation of a poem—the substance, spirit, and cultural...

slate.com

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Fred Kaplan @fredmkaplan.bsky.social · 9d

More than that, see it on film - 70mm or VistaVision - not DCP.

Fred Kaplan @fredmkaplan.bsky.social · 9d

When Trump says Republicans believe in the rule of law, not mobs, does he think people don’t remember Jan 6 and his blanket pardoning of everyone arrested, including the violent? More alarming: could he be right—have a lot of people forgotten (or chosen to forget)?

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Fred Kaplan @fredmkaplan.bsky.social · 10d

The unmistakable signs of Trump's emerging police state. slate.com/news-and-pol...

It’s Hard to Overstate How Disturbing This Trump Directive Is

It’s the clearest statement of the president’s intentions that we’ve seen so far.

slate.com

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Fred Kaplan @fredmkaplan.bsky.social · 16d

It’s time for men and women with stars on their shoulders and rows of ribbons on their chests, active-duty and retired, to start speaking out about the unlawful orders that await them and the lawless chaos that awaits us all.

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Fred Kaplan @fredmkaplan.bsky.social · 16d

Trump's speech to 500 generals & admirals was unhinged, rambling, repellent--but it also laid out a clear, frightening new mission for the US military: to defeat the "enemy from within" in our cities. Will anyone in power resist him? slate.com/news-and-pol...

Trump Just Gave the Military an Extremely Sinister Mission

The U.S. president just told military officers that one of their main goals will be to defeat “the enemy from within.”

slate.com

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Fred Kaplan @fredmkaplan.bsky.social · 16d

This may be the most repellent speech ever given by a president.

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Fred Kaplan @fredmkaplan.bsky.social · 16d

Trump is rambling on about tariffs, his polls, Hunter's pardon, Biden's terrible signature...who does he think he's talking to?

Fred Kaplan @fredmkaplan.bsky.social · 16d

Such a repellent speech.

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Fred Kaplan @fredmkaplan.bsky.social · 16d

Re Trump’s talk of 100% tariff on foreign films: 1. He mulled this before, didn’t do it. 2. Tariffs can’t apply to culture or intellectual property, 3. The theory is whack: nobody’s going to see more Amer films because of the lack of foreign films. 4. Reciprocal tariffs will wreck H’wood.

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Fred Kaplan @fredmkaplan.bsky.social · 17d

Trump's not-quite-peace plan (and his very evasive press conference). slate.com/news-and-pol...

Trump Made It Sound as if He’s Secured Peace in Gaza. Not So Fast.

Israel essentially just got the green light to extend the war.

slate.com

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Fred Kaplan @fredmkaplan.bsky.social · 20d

When it happens. (Right now, nobody knows what it’s about.)

Fred Kaplan @fredmkaplan.bsky.social · 20d

Has Trump changed his tune on Russia and Ukraine? Not likely. slate.com/news-and-pol...

Trump Seemed to Change His Tune on Russia and Ukraine This Week. What’s Really Going On?

Here’s what it probably means.

slate.com

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Fred Kaplan @fredmkaplan.bsky.social · 21d

The irony is that Comey may be the one person most responsible for Hillary Clinton's loss (=Trump's victory) in the 2016 election.

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Fred Kaplan @fredmkaplan.bsky.social · 23d

Trump at the UN gives his most bonkers speech yet (and that clears a high bar). slate.com/news-and-pol...

This Might Be Trump’s Most Bonkers Speech Yet—and That’s Really Saying Something

And I say that knowing the bar is high here.

slate.com

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Fred Kaplan @fredmkaplan.bsky.social · 28d

All cabinet secretaries and GOP legislators should be asked if they agree with Trump that late-night TV hosts shouldn’t be allowed to criticize him—-and, if they agree, did they think so when Biden or Obama was president.

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Fred Kaplan @fredmkaplan.bsky.social · 28d

How Trump/Vance/Hegseth's blithe boasts about the Caribbean "drug-boat" bombings signals America's devolution into a lawless state. slate.com/news-and-pol...

If We Are Descending Into Fascism, This Little-Noticed Moment Will Prove Pivotal

Vance’s comments were merely piling on.

slate.com

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Fred Kaplan @fredmkaplan.bsky.social · 29d

Oh? What’s a better movie about journalism?