“Additionally, I cannot verify that agency data is being used in accordance with legal agreements or in compliance with federal requirements.“

Stock buybacks were considered market manipulation until 1982. Rather than invest in R&D, expansion, or higher wages, buying back shares reduces the number of shares available for public trading. This inflates the stock price and boosts dividends, increasing the value for existing shareholders.

Visa and MC should not use their dominance in the global payments processing sector to engage in financial censorship and dictate what digital storefronts can sell and what consumers can buy. This impacts the liberties of people around the globe. No one wants MC telling them what they can’t buy.

The Supreme Court’s “shadow docket” has cast very different shadows depending on which party holds the White House. When lower courts blocked Trump admin policies, SCOTUS intervened on an emergency basis to lift those orders in 77% of cases. For the Biden administration, that number was 0%.

Three-quarters of US universities surveyed in recent weeks anticipate a fall in international student numbers this year, with the majority expecting a drop of at least 10%. https://on.ft.com/4lHIaiz

1/ A remarkable essay by two eminent Israeli scholars "We wrote this essay to give [former IDF chief of staff's] words legal backing... We felt compelled to fulfill our human, conscientious, and civic duty, as Israelis – and as Zionists – who have expertise in areas related to the IDF’s ... order."

On this Independence Day, the United States government, led by a Republican president with a majority in both chambers of Congress, passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The bill touches on numerous parts of society, carrying heavy consequences for real people.

If the GOP reconciliation bill passes, ICE gets through FY2029: - $45 billion for detention, on top of the current annual budget of $3.4 billion - $14.4 billion for transportation and removal, on top of the current annual budget of $750 million - $8 billion for hiring/retention - Billions more.

The 5% commitment has two categories: 3.5% of GDP annually on core defence requirements, and up to 1.5% of GDP annually to protect critical infrastructure, defend networks, ensure civil preparedness and resilience, unleash innovation, and strengthen defence industrial base.

In a more serious country, unilaterally withdrawing from the JCPOA would have immediately ended Trump's first presidency & destroyed the GOP's reputation on national security policy for a generation 🧐

Jailed Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong hit with new charges

Homeland Security Defies Orders, Engages In More Human Trafficking Eight men were put on a plane from Texas, bound for South Sudan — a country the State Department warns Americans not to travel to because of "crime, kidnapping, and armed conflict." None of these men were from South Sudan. The…

Russell Vought, acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has canceled plans to introduce new rules designed to limit the ability of US data brokers to sell Americans’ most sensitive data, credit history, and Social Security numbers.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent acknowledged Sunday that Walmart, the largest U.S. retailer, may pass along some of the costs from President Donald Trump’s tariffs to its shoppers through higher prices.

Apple updates App Store guidelines in wake of seismic judgement, paving way for Fortnite's return www.eurogamer.net/apple-update...

Since FDR, US presidents are traditionally evaluated after their first 100 days. This year, I contributed an article to a series by scholars assessing President Trump's second first 100 days. If you're interested in US foreign policy, check it out!

The DOJ wants Google to divest from Chrome and to end exclusive distribution agreements with Apple and Samsung (Google paid billions to establish its search engine as the default on phones and lock out competitors). DOJ also wants to see a ban on similar agreements for AI products like Gemini.

UPDATE: It happened. In an 11:15 meeting, employees were told that the office has been eliminated and their positions will be terminated.

Were wealthy donors key to Trump’s campaigns in 2016 and 2020? I'm thrilled to announce a new paper in which Sean Kates, Eric Manning, Tali Mendelberg and I analyzed data on 108 million (!) homeowner-voters. See “Plutopopulism: Wealth and Trump’s Financial Base.” Open access: cup.org/4cfm0Az 🧵 1/

Either the U.S. government *is* able to exert monetary and diplomatic pressure on El Salvador sufficient to produce Abrego Garcia’s release, or it isn’t. The latter would be either a bald-faced lie or a pretty stunning concession of our national impotence. The Vice President should pick one.

“No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,” Alan Garber, Harvard’s president, said about President Trump's demands. nyti.ms/4jzSS9W

The FTC argues Meta’s acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp was part of a strategy to eliminate competition and maintain monopoly power over the social media market. The government contends that a "buy or bury" strategy drove Meta's acquisitions.

This feels like the defining image from this year’s Midwest Political Science Association annual meeting. The National Science Foundatipn paid for a booth in the exhibit hall. But the booth sits empty, because NSF has been DOGE’d, and there is no one left to send.

The Heard and McDonald Islands in the remote Antarctic, which together form another Australian territory — this one uninhabited — is on the Trump administration's list and subject to 10% tariffs. to.pbs.org/3FUqhxk

The U.S. authorities denied entry to a French scientist and then deported him because his phone contained message exchanges with colleagues and friends in which he expressed his “personal opinion” on the Trump administration’s science policies, said the French government. nyti.ms/4iAZR2l

I signed. docs.google.com/document/d/1...

NEW: Months before Google was accused in a lawsuit of facilitating the suicide of a teen user of the Google-tied chatbot startup CharacterAI, researchers at Google DeepMind warned in a paper that chatbots could target minors and manipulate vulnerable users into suicide. futurism.com/google-suici...

I don’t think I’m going to be sleeping very well for *checks notes* the rest of this administration. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/12/n...

Add Harvard, Notre Dame, UPenn, and University of Vermont to the list of higher ed institutions tighten budgets.

A five-alarm fire for academic freedom.

If you are interested in the G7 and want to talk about this year’s summit and Canada’s priorities, commitments, and strategies during its G7 presidency, come to the roundtable! #ISA2025 #Canada #G7 @isanet.bsky.social

Hard power may win the battle, but soft power is the key to securing peace.

The lawsuit brought by Rumble and Trump Media against Brazilian Supreme Court Justice de Moraes is *fascinating* in ways that will need a long thread to unpack. 1/ storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Trump FTC getting ready to go after social media companies (I'm sure it will skip ExTwitter, and possibly now Meta) for their First Amendment protected editorial discretion. www.regulations.gov/document/FTC...

Excellent piece by @lenasurzhko.bsky.social. The fact that five years have passed since the last Ukrainian election does not automatically strip the current president of his legitimacy. Those who say otherwise leave out crucial constitutional and legal context, furthering Russian propaganda.

Peace talks where the fate of a nation is decided by other nations rarely end well. @uk.theconversation.com #Ukraine

Blasting the scheme to rename Greenland to Red, White & Blueland, a Danish lawmaker said, “There is clearly a need for more adults in the room when the US formulates foreign policy. If these people can’t see how absurd they appear, they are out of touch with reality.” politico.eu/article/dona...

“Red states have universities too,” one Trump official, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press, wrote in a message.

This is about control of information. Further context is that such licensing is meant to ensure video game content does not undermine Vietnam’s traditional ethics/culture or is used as propaganda to threaten the Socialist Republic of Vietnam’s national security and social order.

It’s only Wednesday and this week has been filled with major US foreign policy news dealing with a wide range of activity: ethnic cleansing, tariffs, foreign aid, migrant detention centers, and international human rights. Thank goodness dry January is over.

There is no real justification for putting 25% and 10% tariffs on Canadian goods and energy, respectively. According to the Government of Canada, "Less than 1 per cent of the fentanyl and illegal crossings into the United States come from Canada."

Essential reading for understanding why recent tariffs may be outside the powers enumerated in IEEPA (the law used as justification). www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...

Disinformation, Misinformation, and Democracy eds. Ronald J. Krotoszynski, Jr., András Koltay & Charlotte Garden A comparative, solutions-oriented legal and policy analysis of methods used to combat the impact of dis- and misinformation on democracy. 📚 https://cup.org/49FQqdY #ComparativeLaw

“The test of a government is not how popular it is with the powerful and privileged few, but how honestly and fairly it deals with the many who must depend upon it.” -Jimmy Carter, Inaugural Address as Governor of Georgia, January 12, 1971