No parent wants this text. Thinking of the Brown University community.

I hope if you're shopping today, you stop by a local indie bookstore. Here's my list of my favorite 25 books from this past year, some old, some new, fiction, history, and current events — something for almost anyone on your list (and, of course, yourself!): www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/my-favorit...

Four dead after 14 people shot at family gathering in Stockton, California reut.rs/48GGr9o

#FletcherAlum @farahpandith.bsky.social reflects on her career, pioneering roles in the U.S. government, which countered violent extremism abroad. @cfr.org www.cfr.org/article/how-...

The war now has no military logic. Many Israelis agree that a ceasefire is needed. Although only 21% of them believe in a two-state solution, over 70% want the hostages to be released and the war to be over

America will pay the price most of all

US designates Pakistani group's offshoot as 'terrorist' over Kashmir attack reut.rs/4nTLeKj

The State Department's dismantling of its cyber diplomacy bureau and firings of more than a dozen people will set back efforts to combat foreign hackers and promote U.S. security interests, experts told me. My Cybersecurity Dive story with new details: www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/state-d...

Follow the rainbow and what do you see? It ends at US Department of State. It is a sign. June 18, 2025

Democracy

In 1885, white rioters murdered dozens of Chinese residents of Rock Springs, Wyoming. The story of the atrocity is still being unearthed 140 years later.

Some personal news: I’m humbled and honored to be named an @everytown.bsky.social Survivor Fellow for 2025. Over the next year, I’ll be sharing my story: how gun violence intruded on my life, my battle against PTSD, and how I’m fighting back against the bloody epidemic in our communities. 🟠

Around the world and across extremist ideologies, terrorists are getting younger. In what is now one of the defining trends in extremism, plots often involve teens and even preteens who have been radicalized almost entirely online. @farahpandith.bsky.social @usnews.com www.usnews.com/opinion/arti...

World Economic Forum chases Christine Lagarde as its next leader, Bloomberg reports reut.rs/4kl8VIL

A pair of U.K. scholars discovered the mislabeled document in Harvard Law School's digital archives. The university bought it for just $27.50 in 1946. It turned out to be an authentic copy dating to 1300.

Trump to UAE president: "We have a term 'groceries.' It's an old term but it means basically what you're buying, food, it's a pretty accurate term but it's an old fashioned sound but groceries are down."

Since I administered the WH emoluments rules, let me explain why this is forbidden Trump expressed interest in it before it was offered He is going to use & benefit from it a while in office And he's going to keep using it after he leaves! Functionally, it's a gift to him & so it's illegal

Pence on RFK Jr: “I do have concerns that we have a secretary at HHS who has a lifetime career of undermining public confidence in vaccines. We should have the opposite.”

One question I posed in my dissertation is whether extremists ever "win" -- eliminating the out-group and thus ending the campaign of hostile action. History tells us extremists don't stop with their original out-group but instead keep expanding the circle of victims to define new out-groups.

Attack on tourists in Indian Kashmir kills 26 people, injures 17, police say reut.rs/435BDGX

Trump officials tried to reopen negotiations in recent days, but Harvard refused. Instead, the university has accused the administration of breaking the law.

If only scholars, practioners +former tech had been screaming for yrs 1) GenAlpha = vulnerable/bad guys are recruiting 2) HOLD tech accountable 3) $ essential to help NGOs who track, advise + build @isdglobal.bsky.social @jacobware.bsky.social @hoffmanbruce.bsky.social @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social

Marriott’s CEO said it straight: “We welcome all… we create opportunities for all… that’s who we are as a company.” He went back to his hotel to find 40K emails from Marriott associates worldwide saying “thank you.” Plenty of CEOs talk. Capuano showed up. Marriott still has my business.

Hundreds of scholars say U.S. is swiftly heading toward authoritarianism www.npr.org/2025/04/22/n... #trumpcult #hategroups #cults #religionnewsblog

Still no information about the gunmen. This horrific, horrific attack, seemingly timed for US attention (Vance in India), will result in another cycle of deep geopolitic stress. What is old is new again. On this Earth Day, Pahalgam should have been noted for its beauty.

Yes, this has been the Meta plan since at least 2020, as @monikab.bsky.social and I reported www.motherjones.com/media/2020/1...

HUGE AND WONDERFUL! Hurrah! @jacobware.bsky.social @hoffmanbruce.bsky.social

As many as 8 in 10 married women have changed their surname & no longer have birth certificates or passports to match their current legal name. The SAVE Act will strip these women of voting rights. In Virginia alone 1.8 million. In 50 States??? Tell your Senators. Oppose SAVE Act now: bit.ly/4hZ7BK7

Thank you for your work @propublica.org. Cultural heritage is sacred -- and for far too long pieces like these have been (and still are) kept apart from their rightful homes. @artinstitutechi.bsky.social: be a leader and show us what you believe is just and honorable behavior.

The Secretary of the Interior requires his staff to make him cookies and serve him meals. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

Reporter: On Pete Hegseth and the IG investigation, do you want to comment on that? On the Signal app Trump: Don’t bring that up again

A test rocket aimed at kickstarting satellite launches from Europe fell into the water and exploded 40 seconds after takeoff from a Norwegian space port on March 30, in what German startup Isar Aerospace had described as an initial test.

This is actually an important distinction — the criminal statute was written before classification existed, so “national defense information” has a specific and distinct definition here.

Matthew Allison’s activity on Terrorgram was notorious. Extremism researchers studied his posts but did not know who he was. Leftist activists sought to expose him. Law enforcement tried to ID and jail him. Last September, he was finally arrested.

So we are okay with soft power being used for a dog sled race but not Voice of America. Got it.

“Just last week came word that Elon Musk has installed Starlink across the White House complex, which for anyone who understands the security of networks in a place like the White House, is just insanity.” Which scandal is smokescreen for which scandal

Seems like Elon Musk's polarizing capture of the American political system is bringing out extremists across the ideological spectrum... #Tesla www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

I’m old enough to remember when Secretary Hegseth tried to publicly mock Judge Reyes—suggesting that she didn’t know what she was doing when it comes to protecting our national security. It was … two days ago.

Yes! My favorite column these days, telling our times truly.

The US Army's 100 Bn./442nd Regimental Combat Team page is down. Formerly: www.army.mil/asianpacific... For posterity: web.archive.org/web/20250304... I never thought I'd see the day when the U.S. government turns it back on its soldiers because they weren't white men. But here it is.

relax rules of war

Harrison, whose plasma contained a rare antibody, rolled up his sleeve 1,173 times from 1954 to 2018. The Australian is credited with helping 2.4 million babies and advancing scientific research.

They want people to raise chickens to get eggs to deal with egg-gate. Because all Americans have room for chickens, are allowed to have chickens, know how to raise chickens, and have secretly been wanting to smell the smells of a hen house.

November 2024: Trump will save the economy March 2025: We have returned to subsistence agriculture

Warren Buffett, the famed investor who runs the sprawling conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, described tariffs as “an act of war” in an interview with CBS.

NEW: Voice of America is in upheaval. Journalists are facing HR investigations for comments critical of Trump. One of VOA's highest-profile journalists was put on leave today after a Trump aide called him a traitor. And the White House bureau chief was reassigned. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/b...

The programs to count the dead are cut.