Given the argument that ended the VRA, I think it’s time liberals did some self reflection about the now decades long obsession with partisan polarization as the problem, as opposed to authoritarianism, extremism, oligarchy, and racism

as long as john roberts has his majority, there is simply no pro democracy reform that will survive the supreme court. none.

Serial killing as background noise.

Reporter: What do you make of Republicans saying that Virginia— AOC: Wah wah wah. We have asked Republicans for 10 years to ban partisan gerrymandering. And for 10 years, Republicans have said no. What they’re just mad at is that they have been accustomed to a Democratic Party that rolls over.

In a first last month, renewables supplied more power to the U.S. than natural gas, a milestone in the shift to clean energy.

I used to write the WaPo editorials on US-Africa policy, as well on as human rights and politics on the continent. To describe hundreds of thousands of deaths on the continent as “messy” is an absolute abomination.

Trump's aides are telling him that destroying Iran's infrastructure is fair game. They are wrong. They are advocating war crimes. Unfortunately, the targeting of infrastructure is far from new. See: "The Dangerous Rise of 'Dual-Use' Objects in War": papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

People don’t wanna put two and two together with what he did to usaid and him putting up those maps of global birthrates and saying white people are being replaced

“Three Hundred Habeas Cases in Which the Government Has Defied Court Orders” An extraordinary database of non-compliance, from @katherinepomps.bsky.social and @benjaminwittes.lawfaremedia.org for @lawfaremedia.org. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/thre...

Today, the Archive published a Disappearing Data Chronology--a timeline tracking changes in access to federal information under Trump, including major data losses and restorations, legal challenges to information takedowns, and threats to archival collections. nsarchive.gwu.edu/special-exhi...

Gen. Grynkewich: "What I've observed over the course of studying air power in history is that any time you attack a civilian population, you usually end up finding that it just hardens their resolve."

It’s arguably less a war than it is just a string of war crimes

So what this describes is ethnic cleansing www.nytimes.com/2026/04/01/w...

Illiberal democracies often rely on formally democratic institutions like courts to maintain a false image of the state as protective of democratic freedoms.

As former CNO William Pratt said of Iwo Jima in 1945: "The expenditure of manpower to acquire a small, God-forsaken island, useless to the Army as a staging base and useless to the Navy as a fleet base ...." That expenditure, by the way, was almost 7000 dead Americans.

"the decline in [academic freedom in] the United States has been more rapid and pronounced, particularly in the last year. It has deteriorated by 50% from 2015 to 2025 and is now evaluated as moderate autonomy by country experts" academic-freedom-index.net/research/Aca...

Hurst, when asked if the Defense Department would have difficulty absorbing the planned 50% increase, said he was “pleasantly surprised” by how easily the Pentagon could spend it. “We had to cut down significantly to get to" $1.5 trillion, he said.

The restrictions Miller and Hegseth railed against were designed to prevent us from doing things like slaughtering children en masse.

I'm asking that we all raise our political expectations. We deserve good things.

I wrote about the US strikes on Iran in June for @nytimes.com. It seems that we're about to watch a replay, but this time it could be far worse. Like the June strikes, new strikes would be blatantly illegal under the U.S. constitution and international law. 1/ www.nytimes.com/2025/06/23/o...

welp, this destroyed me first thing upon waking up

Cannot repeat the Obama-era dodge of saying "we tortured some folks" and not holding accountable the torturers and especially the chain of command. You want to stop state-sanctioned crimes? Trials not words are the only way.

Nuremberg trials for ICE is the moderate position

Presidents have said and done many terrible things: imperialist violence, regime change, and human rights violations. Trump unprecedented power that lets him act at speed, at home and abroad, in the digital age. Hobbes all the way down. @dandrezner.bsky.social www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...

Join me Monday to discuss "Conventional Deterrence of Nuclear Use" at Harvard Belfer MTA with @matthew-bunn.bsky.social! The piece always leads to fascinating conversations.

This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again. www.nature.com/immersive/d4...

Of course we can win, over time. But so much has been lost.

The unemployment rate for Black workers soared to 8.3% in November. That's more than double the rate for white workers.

NEW: www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...

I'm really glad to see someone like Kelly finally saying this. bsky.app/profile/atru...

The first strike was also murder. You can’t just up and kill civilians on the high seas and then claim you were at war with them.

Here are US military lawyers stating clearly that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's "kill everybody" orders are either (1) war crimes or (2) murder. Either way, expect prosecutions in the future. www.justsecurity.org/wp-content/u...

PONI is pleased to announce the upcoming launch of its Project Atom 2025 report. Please join us on December 10, 2025 at 9:00 AM ET for a discussion with authors @kschake.bsky.social, Rebecca Shrimpton, Kyle Balzer, and @ajmount.bsky.social. Register to attend:

Democracy will not be restored in this country until all of the political leaders responsible for these unlawful actions are prosecuted to the maximum extent of the law. These should be prosecuted for murder, among other things. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

The rule is: do not collaborate with fascists. There's actually no exception if you're a democratic socialist, you got to call him a fascist to his face, or you've got a killer smile.

The average SNAP benefit per month is $177 a person. The average ACA benefit per month is up to $550 a person. People want us to hold the line for a reason. This is not a matter of appealing to a base. It’s about people’s lives. And working people want leaders whose word means something to them.

By this time next week, the estimated deaths due to the illegal destruction of USAID and the shuttering of its aid efforts will breach 400,000. More than 260,000 will be children. Source: www.bu.edu/sph/news/art...

one of the most insane thing about partisan politics is that Republicans are allowed to say "these four million American citizens shouldn't get the representation they are entitled because it would be politically inconvenient for us" and nobody bats an eye

This graph never fails to be shocking: "The US has experienced the earliest and greatest slowdown in life expectancy improvements among higher-income countries, reported Eileen Crimmins. “We have horrible life expectancy—and it’s getting worse and worse”" www.prb.org/resources/se...

84% of political science experts said creating such a force poses a threat to democracy, including 65% who said the threat was extraordinary or serious brightlinewatch.org/violence-red... However, it is overwhelmingly popular among Republicans brightlinewatch.org/violence-red...

If the goal of the trip was to demolish the last remnants of nuclear order, I'd rate the last six hours a tremendous success.

1. Crises, acquisitions, and policy all suggest that conventional weapons are taking on a larger role deterring nuclear use. My new article in @intsecurity.bsky.social examines why US officials would consider conventional options when they have nuclear options available and how they might use them.

Oh you're trying to say the cost of living is skyrocketing? Donald Trump can't hear you over the sound of bulldozers demolishing a wing of the White House to build a new grand ballroom.

If the National Guard is really in D.C. to protect federal property, they should probably have been at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. two days ago

bsky.app/profile/moll... this is what I’ve been thinking too. A bulldozer to the whole of the new deal, to a whole system of rights.

bsky.app/profile/kair... law is a gentleman’s agreement backed by state violence and this is the downstream of effect of state violence deciding it wants to do something else instead* *don’t yell at me lawyers I’m an international relations professor my job is thinking about power

Fall 2025 issue preview @intsecurity.bsky.social! M. Trachtenberg | rules-based international order @aaronbateman.bsky.social | U.S. space power @ajmount.bsky.social | conventional deterrence of nuclear use DJ Kim | clients’ demand evasion @mikegoldfien.bsky.social | hawks, doves, & rapprochement

😍 Boston, you are beautiful. #NoKings