"This effect has been seen again and again. When radicals threaten disruption, authorities often seek compromise with the moderates who seem like the only alternative. Labor unions were accepted to prevent worker councils. Environmental Defense Fund got a seat at the table after Rainforest Action Network threatened chaos. Violent radical flanks, like the Deacons for Defense and Justice, protected nonviolent activists such as MLK and allowed their protests to proceed without lethal state repression. Political movements that succeed almost always include an extremist edge. The radical flank creates space and the moderate fills it.

"Long before it had a name, the Left had intuited the existence of the radical flank effect, axiomizing it with the slogan “No enemies to the Left.” It’s why the Left doesn’t disavow its extremists. It’s why the Left proudly wears Che Guevara t-shirts. It’s why the Left gives their extremists prestige positions at universities. It’s why the Left, at most, just keeps quiet when the crazy comes out of the mouth of its craziest.

"And that’s a big part of why they’ve win, and we’ve lost, generation after generation, in the culture war. They realized that every time we sidelined our extremists, we inevitably shifted the Overton Window towards the other side, towards their side."

https://treeofwoe.substack.com/p/on-the-subject-of-disavowal

NEW:

🇷🇺🇺🇦 Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers are completely surrounded near Pokrovsk, Russia calls on them to surrender.

@Megatron_ron

🇷🇺🇺🇦 Almost two battalions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces surrendered near Pokrovsk in a month.

About 700 Ukrainian soldiers surrendered near the almost encircled Pokrovsk – this is a record since the beginning of 2025, some media report. According to other data, the number of prisoners may reach up to 1000 people.

Fewer and fewer garrisons are trying to resist: columns with fuel and ammunition were destroyed by our drones even before reaching the city, and the Rodynske–Pokrovsk highway is already being called the "second road of death."

During the battles for Pokrovsk, according to various estimates, more than 6,500 Ukrainian soldiers have died, and more than 5,000 remain encircled now.

Meanwhile, Kiev stubbornly lies that there is supposedly no encirclement.

Russia Takes Pokrovsk

The significance of the Russians taking control of Pokrovsk is that it was the last fortified position between the Russian front and the Dnieper River, which I have always believed to be one of the Russian’s primary objective. Given the nature of the terrain to the west of the city, it should take very long […]

https://voxday.net/2025/11/08/russia-takes-pokrovsk/

8 February 1587: Mary, Queen of Scots, is beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle aged 44 after being accused of plotting to assassinate Elizabeth I in the Babington Plot (painting by Abel de Pujol)

How fire was lit in ancient Egypt

Did you know? 🎓

Good night to all! 😴

"Those were the days when America believed in itself. I was happy and proud to be painting it." - Norman Rockwell

'A Scout is Loyal' - Norman Rockwell, 1942

Christianity was the life raft, not the torpedo.
https://x.com/lefineder/status/1963629252726681822

This bell in Kyoto, Japan was cast in 1636 and weighs 70 tons

"Last night Russia struck Ukraine with what is being called the largest ballistic missile attack of the entire nearly-four-year-long war. Ukraine’s main energy authority reported literally every one of their thermal power plants was down in the country amid widespread blackouts..."

https://open.substack.com/pub/simplicius76/p/largest-ever-russian-ballistic-attack?r=lp6h7