Civicus monitors the health of civic societies and their freedoms around the world. In their annual assessment on civic freedoms for 2025, they downgraded the United States from “narrowed” to “obstructed”.
The CIVICUS Monitor has downgraded the United States of America’s civic space rating, reflecting a sharp deterioration of fundamental freedoms in the country. The People Power Under Attack report now rates the USA as “Obstructed” following a year of sweeping executive actions, restrictive laws, and aggressive crackdowns on free speech and dissent.
The downgrade comes following Donald Trump’s return to office in January 2025, which triggered a wave of measures undermining democratic institutions and civic freedoms. The report flags a drastic surge in violations of the rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly.
“The backsliding on rule of law and fundamental freedoms in the United States is truly alarming,” said Mandeep Tiwana, secretary general of CIVICUS. “We are witnessing a rapid and systematic attempt to stifle civic freedoms that Americans have come to take for granted, such as critiquing authorities and protesting peacefully.”
From an article in the Guardian on the report:
The report cited militarized crackdowns on protests in the US, pointing to Donald Trump’s deployment of the national guard to Los Angeles and other cities, as well as the widespread use of ICE agents across gatherings and immigrant communities.
It further highlighted escalating restrictions on free speech across college campuses, particularly around Palestinian solidarity activism.
“Universities have suspended student groups and opened investigations under broad and vague accusations of ‘material support for terrorism.’ Foreign-born students and faculty have been disproportionately targeted, facing disciplinary actions, visa threats, and professional retaliation for supporting Palestinian rights,” the report stated.
Civicus moreover warned that media freedoms were under mounting pressure nationwide, citing the Federal Communications Commission’s threats to revoke broadcast licenses and Trump’s lawsuits against various media companies.
It also pointed to Trump’s revocation of funding for public broadcasters including NPR and PBS, as well as the new White House Wire, an administration-run news website that promotes positive news about itself.
From the V&A Museum, here’s a 90-minute video of someone knitting a pair of gloves using a knitting pattern from the 1940s from the museum’s archive.
Featuring soft-spoken moments, natural yarn sounds, needles gently tapping, and the soothing rhythm of slow, careful making, this video is designed for deep relaxation, calm focus, and background ambience, perfect for studying, crafting, or winding down at the end of the day.
And from the knitting patterns page, some history:
Hand-knitting was at a peak in Britain in the 1940s. During the Second World War, women on the home front were encouraged to contribute to the war effort by knitting for the troops, which was promoted as public duty. Advertising at the time stated: ‘England expects – knit your bit’.
Many knitting patterns were given away free, while wool was also sent to schools so that children could knit gloves, scarves and balaclava helmets for the forces. Wool was also supplied to organisations such as the Women’s Institutes of England and Wales, who made over 22 million knitted garments for the Red Cross (an average of 67 garments per member). Parcels of their knitwear were sent to prisoners of war, as well as to troops.
I know we’ve got some knitters in the group…have you ever tried any of these patterns? If not, report back if you give them a try.
From the archives of London’s V&A Museum, a selection of items that were used by Victorian-era mourners to remember and pay tribute to loved ones who had died, including jewelry with human hair, black dresses, jet black jewelry, mourning cards, and postmortem photography. Victorian fashion was heavily influenced by Queen Victoria, who mourned the death of her husband for decades and set off a trend in Britain (more here):
Victoria’s grief wasn’t only personal but influenced the entire nation. Her strict adherence to mourning attire and jewelry set the tone for the era. Until around 1880, she mandated that only mourning jewelry could be worn in the court. The Queen’s dedication to mourning created what has been described as “the Cult of Mourning,” where societal conventions, fashion, and daily life were infused with the solemnity of loss.
During the Victorian era, mourning jewelry transformed into sentimental tokens for the departed, featuring symbols like willows, angels, clouds, and initials. Women adhered strictly to mourning dress codes, wearing black for the initial “deep mourning” phase lasting two to three years, later transitioning to darker colors. Incorporating the deceased’s hair was common, using materials like jet, vulcanite, and gutta percha. White enamel symbolized the death of an unmarried female or a child, while pearls represented children, signifying tears. Turquoise conveyed the sentiment of “thinking of you,” and affluent families adorned mourning jewelry with precious stones for their loved ones.
A+ to the curators in the video, who understood the fashion assignment in presenting these objects.
Also, I love every opportunity to share one of my favorite Victorian phrases: “got the morbs”, which is defined as being in a state of temporary melancholia. (via colossal)
From artist Miya Ando, Water of the Sky, A Dictionary of 2,000 Japanese Rain Words.
Through a collection of 2,000 Japanese words, their English interpretations, and 100 drawings, Ando describes the breadth and diversity of rain’s many expressions: when it falls, how it falls, and how its observer might be transformed physically or emotionally by its presence.
I paged through this at a bookstore recently; it is delightful. From an excerpt of the book, here are a few of Ando’s rain words & phrases:
Tokidoki Niwaka Ame: Sometimes light snow and rain showers
Ama ga Nukeru: The skies open up, it rains like cats and dogs
Shinotsukuame: Intense rain that falls heavily, is very fine and strong like the Bamboo Grove at Shinotake
Giu: False rain
Amadoi: Sliding red beans to resemble the sound of rain
Kōu: Rain that comes exactly when you were waiting for it
Water of the Sky is available at Bookshop, Amazon, and wherever books are sold.
Since 2013, I’ve done a holiday gift guide that’s basically a curated roundup of stuff from the best gift guides I can find. I always do it a little bit differently from year to year, and last year I went with a simple list and it worked well. So I’m doing that again this year. Also: this is a little more spare than I’d like, but I wanted to get something up pronto. I will be updating this every few days for the next week-ish, so check back. Ok, let’s a-go! (Updated Dec 12: jump to the new stuff.)
1. The guide always starts with charitable giving and so should you. If you can, give cash to your local food bank (and kick in extra around the holiday time). Volunteer. Start with GiveWell’s list of “high-impact, cost-effective charities”. Here are Vox’s 10 guidelines for giving effectively. I personally give to the National Network of Abortion Funds.
2. The Kid Should See This Gift Guide is my #1 source for kids’ gifts. What caught my eye this year: The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide to Inventing the World (Bookshop, Amazon), Kinderfeets multi-use balance board, this portable 1080p video projector for under $90, Teenage Engineering’s pocket operators (Amazon), a set of French, hand-painted, space-themed marbles, and a graphic novel adaptation of The Hidden Life of Trees (Bookshop, Amazon). [via The Kid Should See This Gift Guide]
3. You can give the gift of Kottke! *cringe* There’s The Kottke Hypertext Tee and The Process Tee in light & dark colors. There are kottke.org gift memberships as well starting at $30/yr; check the FAQ on the membership page for more options and details.
π. I love this one: gift audiobooks from Libro.fm (my audiobook store of choice). “You choose the number of credits and your recipient picks their audiobook — all in support of local bookstores.” (And they’re 10% off until Dec 11.)
4. The most popular item by far from the past two gift guides: this Japanese nail clipper. I have one of these and it’s *great*. A significant upgrade from even the Tweezerman ones. Good stocking stuffer!
5. The staples. I upgraded to the 3rd-gen Apple AirPods Pro this year and I use them almost daily; they are comfier with better noise-cancelling than the 2nd-gen ones, which I loved. Almost every book I read, I read on the Kindle Paperwhite — it’s light, waterproof, and very travel-friendly. (Though I am still eyeing the Colorsoft Kindle.)
6. My friend Caroline hiked Vermont’s Long Trail last summer and compiled a small list of outdoors supplies for the gift guide: ThermoDrop Zipper-Pull Thermometer, Opinel wood-handled stainless steel folding knives, Kahtoola MICROspikes, and Smartwool’s Thermal Merino Reversible Cuffed Beanie. And the Cotopaxi Bataan fanny pack, about which she said: “The MVP of my hiking trip. No more fiddling around with side pockets or opening your pack any time you need a snack, to find your your phone or to look at the map.”
7. For the last few years, The Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel has recommended the same printer as the printer of the year: whatever HL-L2xxx-series Brother laser printer is on sale. So, here you go: Brother HL-L2405W Wireless Compact Monochrome Laser Printer. (Technically not on sale right now, but at $135 for a rock-solid laser printer, it doesn’t really need to be.)
8. Kelli Anderson’s new popup book, Alphabet in Motion, is completely and utterly ridiculously amazing. When I opened my copy, my jaw dropped lower and lower to the floor as I looked & played through it and that’s been pretty much the reaction of everyone else who has a copy of this. The must-give gift of the season for book, type, and design nerds. (Bookshop, Amazon)
IX. My daughter got me this jar of truffle butter as a gift a few years ago and it’s so good (and it lasts forever in the fridge). Perfect for putting into white, creamy pasta sauces or as a finishing element for a grilled cheese. (Also, you can buy white truffles on Amazon but I wouldn’t?)
10. Richard Scarry-themed temporary tattoos from Tattly. Lowly Worm, Huckle Cat, the Apple Car, Goldbug, and many more of your favorites. (Tattly is shutting down, so get ‘em while you can…)
10.5. Let’s destigmatize the gift card: there is no shame in not knowing what to get someone for a gift, even if you know them really well. This is actually the gift of getting someone exactly what they want. There’s the obvious Amazon gift card but you can also get cards for Apple (use it for Fitness+ or Apple TV+?), Audible, Fortnite, Snapchat, Airbnb, Disney+, Netflix, and Roblox.
10.6. Sometimes people ask me where to buy art online and I always direct them to 20x200. For instance, just take a look at Harold Fisk’s Mississippi River meander maps.
11. kottke.org guest editor Aaron Cohen owns an ice cream shop in the Boston area and they take their merch very seriously. So many t-shirts! Oh and you can find pints of Gracie’s ice cream all over the Boston metro area…as far away as Concord and Beverly.
12. The Colossal Shop is full of “fun things for creative people”, including this beaver embroidery kit, a buttons puzzle, and a ceramic toast candle holder. [via The Colossal Shop’s 2025 Gift Guide]
14. I like getting The Giant Jam Sandwich (Bookshop) as a gift for the little readers in my life.
15. Friends & readers of the site who sell cool shit: Simplebits (shirts, fonts, and more), Wondermade marshmallows, Hella Cocktail Co. (bitters, mixers, canned margs), This is a MomBod (feminist apparel), Jodi Ettenberg’s Legal Nomads shop (food art, totes, shirts) and gluten free translation cards and celiac travel guides, Yen Ha (prints), Spoon & Tamago (Family Mart socks!), Fitz (custom fitted eyeglasses), Field Notes, Pink Tiger Games (“sweet, kind” tabletop games), Storyworth (keepsake books), Christoph Niemann (prints & books), Noah Kalina (photographic prints & books), Jessica Hische (prints, apparel, fonts, etc.), Mike Monteiro (paintings), and Cotton Bureau (t-shirts and more).
16. Twelve South AirFly Duo is a Bluetooth transmitter that you can plug into the jack on your seatback TV on the airplane and then use your Bluetooth headphones to listen to your movie. I have one of these; it works great. Apple AirTags are essential travel infrastructure these days.
Q. Pal Robin Sloan and his partner Kathryn Tomajan run a tiny olive oil producer called Fat Gold. This year they’re offering a Fat Gold Gift Set of two different extra virgin olive oils and a copy of a “32-page zine that provides a brisk introduction to extra virgin olive oil alongside a stockpile of delicious applications”. Fun! He also recommends Daybreak’s seaweed salt (for extra umami!) and these gorgeous tidelogs. [via Robin’s 2025 Gift Guide]
18. Another great gift list for kids’ stuff: Purdue University’s 2025 Engineering Gift Guide, which is focused on microelectronics gifts (circuitry, robotics, coding & programming) this year. [via Purdue University’s 2025 Engineering Gift Guide]
19. Food/kitchen things that I can vouch for: Xi’an Famous Foods meal kits, pastrami from Katz’s Delicatessen, Ernest Wright’s kitchen scissors, the Ooni Volt electric pizza oven, Headley & Bennett’s crossback apron, and this Zojirushi rice cooker (Neuro Fuzzy!).
20. The end of an era! Almost every year since I started doing a gift guide, I’ve featured this 55-gallon drum of personal lubricant. But Amazon doesn’t sell it anymore. I blame all of you for never buying one!
Twenty one. You know her, you love her: Edith Zimmerman. Her Etsy shop is chock full of prints, cards, and apparel.
22. Stuff from past gift guides: the Keap Wood Cabin candle is my favorite candle, Crayola Palm-Grip Crayons, this cute whale butter dish, and a leather floppy disk wallet.
23. Made right here in VT, Darn Tough socks (Amazon) are the best socks. For one thing, they have an Unconditional Lifetime Guarantee.
24. Tinned fish! I have my eye on the Fishwife Smoky Trio 3-Pack (Smoked Rainbow Trout, Smoked Salmon, Smoked Mackerel).
67. Teens are impossible to shop for. The Strategist always has good gift guides: The Best Gifts for Teenage Girls, According to Teenage Girls; The Best Gifts for Teenage Boys, According to Teenage Boys. The Spikeball set, disco ball, and this Brooklinen robe look promising. And I can recommend the tortilla blanket for ages 0 to 120…everyone loves this thing.
26. Last year, I asked readers for gift suggestions and IMO the resulting thread is even better than the gift guide I put together. There’s some great stuff here: wooden puzzles; colorful, design-y charging stands for Apple things; leather bound notebooks; box cutters; and this vintage shop on Etsy. Go check out the rest here.
{Dec 12: Added some new items to the list below…}
27. Give the gift of noodles! Momofuku has a bunch of instant noodle packs now and you can also get Ichiran tonkotsu ramen kits.
28. If you want to take photos of far-flung galaxies but don’t know where to start, try the Seestar S50 All-in-One Smart Telescope. Santa, if you’re listening, I want one of these. [via Ian Lauer]
29. Some cookbooks that came out this year: Good Things by Samin Nosrat (Amazon), Dinner by Meera Sodha (Amazon), Homemade Ramen by Sho Spaeth (Amazon), and American Soul: The Black History of Food in the United States by Anela Malik & Renae Wilson (Amazon).
30. From the Criterion Collection: The Wes Anderson Archive: Ten Films, Twenty-Five Years. [via The Verge’s 2025 holiday gift guide]
31. I’m a big fan of Baggu bags…I have a bunch in the car & in my mud room that I use for grocery shopping. [via Bon Appetit’s 28 Food Gifts We’re Giving (and Secretly Hoping to Get) in 2025]
32. Time Since Launch is a unique timepiece — you pull the pin to start the timer and it keeps counting…for up to 2,738 years.
33. Get them the gift of all the books with a bookshop.org gift card. [via The Literary Hub Gift Guide: 50 Gifts for Writers]
67/2. Inflatable tube men! Imagine how good one of these would look in your front yard or on the roof of your apartment building and how much attention you would get from your neighbors. [via The 2025 Atlantic Gift Guide]
34. This looks gorgeous: The Golden Era of Sign Design: The Rediscovered Sketches of Beverly Sign Co. [via Dan Sinker’s gift guide]
35. For whatever reason, I have a soft spot for t-shirts that take the piss out of sports fans (even though I am one); one of my favorite t-shirts just says “Sports” on it in a baseball logo sort of font. So, I really enjoyed seeing this I Just Hope Both Teams Have Fun shirt. [via Cup of Jo’s No-Spend or Low-Spend Gifts]
36. From A Holiday Gift Guide for the Creative Neurodivergent Baddie in Your Life at McSweeney’s, a medieval autism sticker and The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows by John Koenig (Amazon).
37. Give the gift of independent journalism with subscriptions to sites like 404 Media, Hearing Things, Flaming Hydra, and Aftermath. Oh, and there’s a site called kottke.org that doesn’t paywall any content that also relies on reader support! [via The Handbasket’s Giving the Gift of Independent Journalism: a Guide]
This is a living document — I’ll be updating this list with more stuff over the next few days, and I’ll let you know when to check back! To be continued…
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