Important reporting on how young people from multiple African countries have been lured by promises of jobs and education and then forced to work in support of Russia and Belarus's war on Ukraine www.premiumtimesng.com/investigatio...

Final goodbyes to Gaza City: ‘I look at the walls of my house, even the lamp, and it breaks my heart, the little details. It feels strange to think I won’t have a house. This thought will haunt you no matter where you go.’

More details on what "detainee" meant here. The people apparently *were* in custody. It's unclear whether they were leaving or entering the building. Recent arrests would likely still be wearing the clothes they had on at the time of arrest, but would probably have been handcuffed.

Scroll through this timeline. You have: Ken Paxton, JD Vance and Kristi Noem all posting about this as a target on ICE/police while the actual story is that a sniper shot 3 individuals that were detained by ICE and then killed himself.

The federal government has censored the work of dozens of scientists, including work by my lab, on the impacts of climate change on Acadia National Park. Signs have been removed from Cadillac and Great Meadow. They’re also removing signs about the Wabanaki’s sacred connections to Cadillac.

Hard to express to those not in the weeds just how much the current state of the immigration detention system is just utter chaos.

ACOG reaffirms that acetaminophen is safe for managing pain and fever during pregnancy. No reputable studies support suggestions like those in HHS’s recent announcement linking acetaminophen use in pregnancy to autism; in fact, high-quality studies show no such risk. https://bit.ly/47Wxc59

#CRS2025 also saw the launch of our latest @civilwarsjournal.bsky.social Special Issue on the Legacies of Rebel and Paramilitary Governance. Check out the SI here: www.tandfonline.com/toc/fciv20/c... with @nielsterpstra.bsky.social

#BREAKING: Over dissents from Justices Sotomayor, Kagan & Jackson, #SCOTUS grants a stay in the Slaughter case (allowing President Trump to remove the last Dem member of the FTC), *and* grants certiorari "before judgment" to decide whether to formally overrule its 1935 ruling in Humphrey's Executor.

The arrival of Ahmad al-Sharaa in NYC for the UNGA is a timely moment to highlight our new book, published a few weeks ago in Europe and in a month ago in the US (already on Kindle). What lessons can we draw from the past? A threat

Some good news from Egypt wapo.st/46zoDuT (gift link)

David Petraeus greeting Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the Concordia Summit in NYC. When Petraeus was a 3-star in Iraq in 2004-6, Sharaa was fighting the US as a member of the al-Qaida branch there; when Petraeus was a 4-star, Sharaa was teaching fellow Camp Bucca detainees classical Arabic

"I’m free today because of this advocacy,” Soliman said. “Don’t underestimate your voice."

NEW: Hours before a new entry ban is supposed to go into effect, the federal government officially acknowledges for the first time that the restrictions do NOT apply to people who currently have H-1B visas. Link: www.uscis.gov/sites/defaul...

i don’t think people on bluesky understand the severity of this situation. i woke up to literally hundreds of texts from friends and family thinking about either moving back home to india or applying to other countries for jobs. this includes me.

“15 of every 16 Palestinians the Israeli military has killed since its renewed offensive in Gaza began in March have been civilians… internal data from the IDF indicated a civilian death toll of 83% between outbreak of war in Oct 2023 & May this year” www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

In Nicaragua, longtime regime loyalists have been purged, shoring up Rosario Murillo’s power, likely to help her fully take over if her husband, longtime President Daniel Ortega, resigns or dies. I spoke with Frances Robles from the @nytimes.com about the crackdown www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/w...

Proposal would cut oversight of LA county jails in the name of “cost-cutting,” when the need for outside scrutiny of jail conditions is extremely clear www.latimes.com/california/s...

Critical part of the President's new $100,000 charge for H1-B visas: The Administration can also offer a $100,000 discount to any person, company, or industry that it wants. Replacing rules with arbitrary discretion. Want visas? You know who to call and who to flatter.

Update on Maine-Canada border crossings - August saw 115,000 fewer people crossing at ports of entry compared to 2024, a 28% decline. That takes the total reduction in crossings to 560,000 since February. #mepolitics

BREAKING: Trump appointee Judge Tim Kelly GRANTS the plaintiffs motion for a preliminary injunction. Kelly’s order bars removal of “unaccompanied Guatemalan children who have received neither a final removal order nor permission from the Attorney General to voluntarily depart…”

If you are relying on Substacks to keep up on the latest articles in a social science literature, or Bluesky for that matter, let me highly recommend paper-picnic.com. All the articles published in a discipline in the last week, direct to your inbox on Friday mornings.

Folks at #APSA2025, our roundtable for Phil Martin's Strong Commanders, Weak States and my When Rebels Win is this after at 4pm in VCC West 207!

A Venezuelan boat that the U.S. military destroyed in the Caribbean last week had altered its course and appeared to have turned around before the attack started. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/10/u...

If you're heading to #APSA2025, on Thursday at 4pm Phil Martin & I are having a joint roundtable in West 207 on his excellent book Strong Commanders, Weak States & my forthcoming book When Rebels Win, w/all-star discussants Ana Arjona, Laia Balcells, Megan Stewart & Scott Straus tinyurl.com/yvaaf68g

Tearing down the Peace Vigil while promoting the Department of War www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...

Radical right accommodation really does not work. New paper out with this exceptionally talented team @katharinalawall.bsky.social @robjohns75.bsky.social @drjennings.bsky.social @sarahobolt.bsky.social @zachdickson.bsky.social @danjdevine.bsky.social & @jack-bailey.co.uk doi.org/10.31235/osf...

This story is WILD. Trump sent Seal Team 6 into North Korea to plant a listening device. The entire thing went sideways within minutes of landing when they noticed a fishing boat near the beach. They killed everyone on board, sunk the bodies to cover their tracks, and fled. Congress was never told.

Close on the heals of the Trump administrative launching an extraordinary airstrike on an alleged TdA smuggling vessel.

DEVELOPING: Advocates are seeking a court order to block the Trump administration’s effort to deport hundreds of unaccompanied minor children to Guatemala. Judge abruptly moved 3 pm hearing up to 12:30 after she was notified that some children “are in the process of being removed" today.

The notion that "Dept of Defense" means we don't emphasize offensive capabilities would sure be news to Curtis LeMay, or really any senior US commanders after the 1949 name change www.reuters.com/world/us/whi...

Netanyahu is restricting aid trucks into Gaza—the best way to get food to starving people there—so Jordan is delivering some with air drops. The Jordanians said @merkley.senate.gov & I could join one of those flights to see the devastation, but Israel denied authorization for our scheduled flight.

A US Group Demands Probe Into Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, Alleging War Crimes passblue.com/2025/08/29/a...

The US Administration has decided to destroy a top network for clinical trials to test new treatments for children with brain cancer. This is another atrocity that will harm Conservative and Liberal Americans, long after the politicians responsible are gone.

Trump cancels $4.9 billion in foreign aid, escalating spending fight with Congress reut.rs/41X3byg

Four more top #CDC officials have submitted their resignation in the past few hours - Debra Houry (chief medical officer), Demere Daskalakis (director of NCIRD), Daniel Jernigan (director of NCEZID) + Jen Layden (director of OPHDST) www.nbcnews.com/health/healt... It is horrifying

National Guard soldiers called into service for President Trump's law enforcement surge in D.C. have been assigned to spread mulch at federal monuments. Normally the Park Service does that, but the administration laid off the workers. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

The reason Kilmar Abrego Garcia was not eligible for asylum in 2019 was nothing to do with the merits of his case. It was because of the one year filing deadline, which requires a person to apply for asylum within one year of entering the US. It's now been less than a year since he entered the US!

Just got my paper copy of this great book by Sherry Zaks. Recommend for anyone interested in rebel groups and rebel governance.

El Salvador submitted human rights reports to a comparatively obscure UN committee claiming they were obeying human rights law, & that the US was to blame for any crimes committed against migrants sent to CECOT. For @cipolicy.bsky.social I argue this shows us we can still mobilize against impunity.

🆕 📣 Making my BlueSky debut to share some exciting news: the first solo-authored publication from my PhD dissertation, published last week 🔓 open access in @gsqjournal.bsky.social: academic.oup.com/isagsq/artic... A thread 🧵:

BBC News - El senador Rodrigo Paz y el expresidente Jorge Quiroga se disputarán la presidencia de Bolivia en segunda vuelta, poniendo fin a 20 años de gobierno del MAS www.bbc.com/mundo/articl...

USAID funded roughly half the world’s supply of ready-to-use therapeutic food. The dismantling of the agency has disrupted the global supply chain that provides the packets, leaving thousands of malnourished children at risk of dying.

Today is election day in Bolivia! I've been closely following the country since the start of my PhD and honestly this could be one of the most consequential elections the country has ever faced. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

This issue of The Continent includes an excellent series of pieces on the war in Sudan by Sudanese authors. Read it instead of the recent Atlantic article. www.thecontinent.org/_files/ugd/2...

This could end up very badly given what we know of Rules on Use of Force (RUF) for Guard in DC. And very different training regimens compared to local police. Wall Street Journal reporting: "National Guard troops deployed to Washington, D.C. are preparing to carry weapons in the coming days."

"Among college graduates ages 22 to 27, computer science and computer engineering majors are facing some of the highest unemployment rates, 6.1% and 7.5% respectively ... That is more than double the unemployment rate among recent biology and art history graduates, which is just 3%"