Marina Kogan

For nearly a year, the administration has said that DOGE had no unauthorized access to your Social Security data. A new government filing admits that was false.

Under the heaviest Russian shelling, during the coldest days and nights, in darkness and without electricity, while burying friends and relatives killed by russians - there is no greater pain than injustice. The injustice of demanding concessions from Ukrainians who are holding World War III away from the doorstep of the Western world. The injustice of telling them not to strike russian territory, not to “escalate” by asking for military support, to somehow respect their executioner. But that same injustice fuels Ukrainians’ determination not to give up. If you’ve ever wondered how Ukrainians feel right now…

Remember folks, when a bunch of 35-40 year old "Young Republicans" were caught joking about Hitler and gas chambers J.D. Vance called them "kids" But 15 year old girls in the Epstein Files are "young women". It's sick.

Stop standing with Ukraine and start fighting with Ukraine! Cut off Russia's ability to fund its war machine and give Ukraine the weapons it needs to defend itself. Both of these things could be done today and save countless innocent lives. Instead, more talk.

When we talk about authoritarianism, it’s not just Donald Trump. Musk owns X Bezos owns Twitch Zuckerberg owns Instagram and Facebook Larry Ellison controls TikTok Billionaires increasingly control what we see, hear and read.

What should alarm us about the Epstein files isn’t just the appalling details. It is the degree to which enormously wealthy and powerful people live by their own rules — and continue to get away with it. It’s a club where the rules and the law don't apply. And you’re not in it.

The Jeff Epstein saga isn't a scandal about pedophilia, it's about a Russian word called 'blat,' a Soviet-era word meaning 'the use of personal networks for obtaining goods and services in short supply and for circumventing formal procedures.' It's about a kind of government. As with the large number of 'blatniks' in the Soviet era who made sure their factories got what they needed outside the formal state procurement process, Epstein greased the wheels for the neoliberal state. His job was governance. What does that mean? Well it's clear that Epstein was an entrepreneurial broker across multiple public and private bureaucracies, helping organize 'under-the-table' deals among the legal, business, intelligence, and political elites to allow them to escape the rule of law and traditional conflict of interest restrictions. It's statecraft to allow a superclass to systemically escape the formalized rules. The pedophilia and prostitution were part of it - that is obviously violating the rule of law - but so are the random favors Epstein bestowed. Like Epstein sending Senator Joe Manchin's request for a yacht, a request which came from the First lady of the Virginia Islands, to a random NY financier who might have one. Or working with Joi Ito at MIT and billionaire Reid Hoffman to restructure the Bitcoin Foundation. It's all about matching capital and talent and inputs outside of the restrictions ordinary people are subject to. This kind of governance is particularly important in Soviet-style states, where everyone knows the rules are fake, where skirting the system IS the system. Epstein and his affiliates thrived because of the weakened institutions of the United States, institutions enfeebled in many cases by the men in his network, like Larry Summers. These men adopted multiple roles - advisor, businessman, academic, board member, regulator - and put on the hat that best maximized their self-interest and the self-interest of their narrow network at that moment. The old world, where handing someone your business card meant you represented that institution, disappeared in the 1980s. Over the course of the 1990s, neoconservatives, neoliberals, bankers - ultimately Epstein's network - built this new social order. It was one where you couldn't succeed through the formal rules, but if you were let into the networks of trust by blatniks, you could do anything you wanted. While all the specifics of Epstein's network are not known, and while conspiracy theorists often have crazy views, they have correctly fingered that the world of meritocracy and formalized systems is increasingly a fraud. And that the real government lies elsewhere. In short, when formal democratic institutions like Congress stop governing, the networks of men like Epstein fill the power vacuum. Epstein built what Roy Cohn always wanted to have, but never achieved, because the then-institutions were too strong for him to break. Here's a passage from sociologist Janine Wedel's Shadow Elite on how this form of governance works.

But having a hard time flying back home (the last leg) because @FlyFrontier customer service is beyond abysmal. Just wasted over three hours of my time for nothing.

Had an amazing time presenting my work with @smidgeofginger and catching up with that vibrant community at #ICWSM 2025.

3 years ago, russia destroyed a drama theater in Mariupol, killing approximately 600 people who took refuge there. Today, russians are rebuilding it, trying to whitewash their crime and erase the evidence. Just like they almost erased the city. Don't let them — #RememberMariupol

Russia has kidnapped tens of thousands of Ukrainian children. Putin was indicted for this crime. Yale has a unit searching for them. Musk eliminated the funding. inews.co.uk/news/world/mus…

It’s an obvious point but apparently we have to keep making it: when Trump weakens Ukraine he creates the conditions for a longer and bloodier war.

A comparison with Ribbentrop would be closer to the mark. nybooks.com/online/2025/03…

Picture: "Corrupt foreigner keeps showing up to the White House lacking the respect to wear a suit but begging Americans to subsidize him forever"

@munmun10 @SachinPendse @SocwebGT @NorthwesternU @UCSF Congratulations!

Summer has been busy for various reasons, but I can't be happier to see Dr. @SachinPendse graduate from @SocwebGT and proceed to do amazing things next, first @NorthwesternU and then as a faculty @UCSF! Lucky to have shared a passion for mental health with this PhD graduate #6 😀

Powerful by @QuinHillyer on the Supreme Court immunity decision in @dcexaminer washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/306642…

your daily reminder that @ICRC turned into a genocide grifting scam.

Russia started a Berlin factory fire as part of hybrid war on Europe, Western security officials said. trib.al/2D7hsCI

Did you know that Russia's centuries long attempts to wipe out the Ukrainian language even went as far as making a certain Ukrainian letter illegal? The next time one of your friends tell you some nonsense about Russia invading Ukraine "to protect the Russian speakers", here's the tools you need to bring them back to reality.