Writer: @TheAtlantic. Faculty: @BardCollege. Trustee: @AmericanAcademy. Fellow: @GuggFellows, @AEI. Repped by: @APBspeakers, Wylie. 📕 Summer of Our Discontent

New York
Joined April 2010
Thomas Chatterton Williams retweeted
SCOOP: Major U.S. banks are detecting unauthorized third-party AI agents inside customer accounts, including some attempting to take actions that appear to be independent of user instructions, sources told Axios. The findings have alarmed banking executives, who are racing to restrict access to their systems as AI moves at a velocity faster than financial institutions can respond, multiple industry and bank executives told Axios. Several banks are now preparing for worst-case and even “day after” scenarios, including how to rapidly secure or restore customer accounts if things go wrong, the people said. Several bank executives told Axios they're struggling to distinguish between human users and AI agents. One executive said banks also struggle to determine whether agents are authorized by customers or potentially operating without their permission, more akin to rogue agent behavior. Read my latest for Axios here: axios.com/2026/10/22/ai-agen

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Thomas Chatterton Williams retweeted
Of all the things that have been hardest to communicate in my life, this seems the most impossible: that our civilisation is not, by some law of nature, immortal. It has no right or likelihood to continue existing if it insists on committing harakiri. The people who are welcomed onto our airwaves, work in parts of our government and lead some of our political parties include those who would burn down this country in a heart-beat. They would look us in the eyes and kill us. And we know that because they have done it elsewhere. They don't do it at the moment because the time is not right. But when they feel it is, they will act. At which point I suppose people will have to decide whether they wish to be spectators at their own funeral pyre or not. ✍ Douglas Murray Article | spectator.com/article/france
 | @DouglasKMurray
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Thomas Chatterton Williams retweeted
CBS News
@CBSNews19h
Paris authorities cleaned graffiti from the statue at Place de la Republique on Wednesday following a weekend of protests and riots that prompted authorities to impose an overnight curfew in multiple Paris neighborhoods. The cleanup has sparked calls to leave the graffiti in place longer as a visible reminder of the unrest, which comes six months before France's next presidential election and against a backdrop of economic weakness and surging public debt.
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Thomas Chatterton Williams retweeted
julie k. brown
@jkbjournalistOct 21
She got $50 million ! For arranging a pardon!! $50 million. $50 million. $50 million.
The New York Times
@nytimesOct 20
A billionaire wanted a pardon. His family gave a $50 million deal to Alina Habba, a lawyer with close ties to President Trump. nyti.ms/4zNq59Z
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Thomas Chatterton Williams retweeted
Eddy Mitchel Sardou (parodie)
@EddySardou22h
Comme sa mĂšre mange des biscuits parce qu’elle ne peut pas payer la cantine, Lola-Fleur Whittaker (LFI) est obligĂ©e de se contenter d’un sac Bottega Veneta d’occasion Ă  1 500-2 100 € au lieu de 4 200 € neuf. On n’imagine pas la galĂšre.
La « star » LFIste du moment, qui a rĂ©ussi hier Ă  presque faire pleurer dans les chaumiĂšres via une vidĂ©o, en expliquant que ses voyages de luxe c’est grĂące Ă  des amis riches, ceux sur lesquels LFI dĂ©gueule Ă  longueurs de journĂ©es, et dont elle explique elle que ce n’est pas trĂšs grave qu’ils se fassent dĂ©truite leur outils de production par des manifestants. Elle explique aussi que sa mĂšre, qui vit avec 4 enfants dans le 15eme arrondissement de Paris, un des plus chers de la capitale, est vraiment obligĂ©e de s’acheter des gĂąteaux pour manger le midi, car elle est Ă  dĂ©couvert le 10/12 du mois. Mais pourquoi donc ne pas faire comme les autres « pauvres », en allant vivre dans une HLM en grande banlieue, et en prenant chaque jour le RER ? Quant Ă  ses cours Ă  53€ les 50 minutes, il ne lui reste que 15/20€ en rĂ©alitĂ©, la marmotte lui prenant le reste. Sur la premiĂšre photo, un iPhone Pro Max, le modĂšle le plus cher, et en bandouliĂšre un sac Ă  5500 balles, logique pour une femme de « gauche » en lutte contre le capitalisme et l’exploitation de l’homme par l’homme. Pour les fringues et les bottes, Ă  premiĂšre vue elles ne viennent pas de chez la Foir’fouille
 on peut supposer Ă  premiĂšre vue que ça dĂ©passe les 20€. Je pense qu’en fait ce qui serait bien dans son cas, c’est de se faire un peu oublier.
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Thomas Chatterton Williams retweeted
TCW on France:
Thomas Chatterton Williams
@thomaschattwillOct 20
Replying to @thomaschattwill
“as I was watching Macron live from New York, I called my children in Paris and heard the giddy chaos—the shouts and cheering—still vibrating through the streets below their open window. They told me that some of the stores beneath their apartment were being ransacked as the president was speaking. I had to push from my mind the appalling thought that these rioters might climb into the building’s residential upper levels. Words aren’t enough anymore.” theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/1

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Thomas Chatterton Williams retweeted
Quelqu'un sait quel est le temps de cuisson pour une PlayStation ?
« La faim a pris le dessus » : dans les tribunaux, le profil des pilleurs bien loin des fantasmes du gouvernement âžĄïž l.humanite.fr/lPg
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Thomas Chatterton Williams retweeted
The past weeks of pandemonium in France have shown that no society, no matter how equal or enlightened, can make life sweet enough for angry young nihilists, @thomaschattwill argues: theatln.tc/CPwOKoYZ 📾: Telmo Pinto / NurPhoto / Getty
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Thomas Chatterton Williams retweeted
💬 «J’étais avec ma voisine de 80 ans qui Ă©tait apeurĂ©e. On pensait qu’on allait mourir» Samedi 17 octobre, un groupe d’une dizaine d’individus a forcĂ© la porte d’entrĂ©e d’un immeuble parisien, prĂšs de la place de la RĂ©publique Notre vidĂ©o âžĄïž l.leparisien.fr/9FT0
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Thomas Chatterton Williams retweeted
The past weeks of pandemonium in France have shown that no society, no matter how equal or enlightened, can make life sweet enough for angry young nihilists, @thomaschattwill argues: theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/1

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Thomas Chatterton Williams retweeted
T. đŸ“šâ˜•ïž
@levantophileOct 20
It’s interesting to see how the French riots are radicalizing not only many white French people against the far left and its apologism for violence, but also immigrant-origin small business owners, like this Arab woman. I just saw another similarly angry exchange between a far-left activist and a Black business owner. Since immigrants are more heavily concentrated in urban areas, they have been disproportionately affected by the riots that have seen businesses ransacked across city centers in France. There are numerous videos of angry or distraught Arab, Chinese, Indian, and Black business owners.
BFM
@BFMTVOct 19
"L'empathie c'est bien gentil, mais ce n'est pas suffisant": Ă©change entre Sofia Tizaoui, ancienne prĂ©sidente de l’Union Syndicale LycĂ©enne, et Souad, gĂ©rante d'un bar-tabac Ă  Marseille aprĂšs les violences de ce 17 octobre #forumbfmtv
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Thomas Chatterton Williams retweeted
Incredible scoop by my @WSJ colleagues: Elon Musk ordered the slowdown of a military-grade version of Starlink relied on by Ukraine, a decision that sparked panic in Kyiv and confusion inside the Trump administration. wsj.com/world/ukraine-starli

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Thomas Chatterton Williams retweeted
Quand la gauche pénitentielle et misérabiliste de Lola-Fleur Whittaker rencontre la droiture de Jhemima Sheilha ! #emeutes #lycees #LCI
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Thomas Chatterton Williams retweeted
Replying to @Yascha_Mounk
@Yascha_Mounk and James Marriott explore what happens when a civilization turns its back on books. open.substack.com/pub/persua

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Thomas Chatterton Williams retweeted
Today is the official release date for my new book, First Among Equals: Visions of Equality before Egalitarianism (Belknap, 2026). It explores how and why “equality” became, rather suddenly, a basis on which ordinary men and women could make political demands in early modern England. hup.harvard.edu/books/978067

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Thomas Chatterton Williams retweeted
“Nihilists of the kind we’ve seen flood the streets of France from coast to coast will never uphold their end of the social contract, no matter how beautifully it is drafted.”
Thomas Chatterton Williams
@thomaschattwillOct 20
Replying to @thomaschattwill
“as I was watching Macron live from New York, I called my children in Paris and heard the giddy chaos—the shouts and cheering—still vibrating through the streets below their open window. They told me that some of the stores beneath their apartment were being ransacked as the president was speaking. I had to push from my mind the appalling thought that these rioters might climb into the building’s residential upper levels. Words aren’t enough anymore.” theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/1

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Thomas Chatterton Williams retweeted
Suite (et fin) de la polĂ©mique Lola-Fleur Whittaker avec sa mise au point dĂ©sespĂ©rĂ©e Je vous rĂ©sume : - mon pĂšre ? plus ds ma vie - mes cours ? c’était bĂ©nĂ©vole (lol) - mes voyages ? mon ex Ă©tait riche et jai des amis dans le monde entier - ma mĂšre va chez Action Convaincu ?
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Thomas Chatterton Williams retweeted
Thomas Chatterton Williams
@thomaschattwillOct 20
So this is the fool that has been arrested for this horrific arson: “French police have arrested Hodei Ciarra Docampo, a 34-year-old far-left militant, in connection with the arson attack that destroyed the historic 19th-century Limoges Town Hall during nationwide riots.”
Thomas Chatterton Williams
@thomaschattwillOct 17
It’s hard to put into words how upsetting these images are
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