Excellent piece from the always-excellent @josephpolitano.bsky.social on why no one should be citing Current Population Data on immigration levels, and why it's a problem that we don't have better data on this crucial question. #EconSky www.apricitas.io/p/america-is...

The rate and type of the Trump Truth Social postings last night strongly suggests an experiment with automation. Not sure why everyone is in such a rush to refresh their mental health diagnoses based on this incident. Plenty of better evidence to consider.

Check out my latest interview with a person from Bayt Jann in the Jabal al-Shaykh/Mount Hermon area in Damascus countryside, regarding the recent Israeli raid on Bayt Jann and his message for the Israelis and international community www.aymennaltamimi.com/p/the-israel...

Some thoughts on continuities between al-Sharaa's rule in Idlib (2017-24) and in Damascus this past year, after reading the new Haenni/Drevon book akmckeever.substack.com/p/what-the-h...

@azelin.bsky.social gave insight into the risks and rewards of working with the new government of Syria led by members of HTS. 5/8

📺Join us on Thursday, December 4 at 12pm ET for an expert conversation with Amb. James Jeffrey and @azelin.bsky.social examining the state of play in Syria one year after the fall of the Assad regime. @devorahmargolin.bsky.social will moderate the event.

🧵 1-5 The recent Alawite protests in Latakia, Tartus, Homs, and Hama – and the reactions they sparked – highlight dynamics far more significant than their modest turnout suggests. In my latest, I unpack the three key takeaways they reveal. en.majalla.com/node/328524/...

Did the University of Oklahoma even *consult* with the faculty in its Department of Religious Studies before issuing this decision? You know, those *experts* whom they employ who understand first amendment issues and religious arguments better than anyone because they teach at a public university?

📺Must-watch webcast on Thursday, December 4 at 12pm ET as Amb. James Jeffrey and @azelin.bsky.social examine the state of play in Syria one year after the fall of the Assad regime. @devorahmargolin.bsky.social will moderate the event.

Everyone in America is going to lose at least one person they know and care about before this is over

Unfortunately, in US journalism it is considered neutral to spread a lie, but it is considered "biased" to call out a lie. So, there is a structural asymmetry that rewards colorful lies with virality.

New interview: w/the 'Democratic Revolutionary Awakening Council', a faction in Sudan that is aligned with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Topics include why it is aligned with RSF, what type of state it wants in Sudan, & position on normalising w/Israel www.aymennaltamimi.com/p/the-war-in...

🚨 Call for Special Issue Papers for Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, please share widely! @ginavale.bsky.social and I are excited to announce the call for papers for our upcoming special issue on insurgent-run education. Proposal deadline is 8 January 2026, and full details are below👇🏼

Amazing that the solution society landed on for the malinformation crisis is apparently to industrialize its production

No assertion from this administration should be presented as fact unless independently verified

OpenAI’s Sora Is Letting Teens Generate Videos of School Shootings futurism.com/artificial-i...

US government’s ability to counter cyberespionage, destructive hacks and organized criminal scams is declining under the Trump administration www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

Hey @nature.com, have you got an explanation for how the hell THIS happened? & especially why you accepted a paper with such a bizarre piece of genAI slop in it?! & more to the point, why we should take you seriously at all going forward? www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Consequences Week unfortunately still not scheduled

More on DC shooter. If he was a Taliban or AQ 'sleeper' he played it well. We still need more info. Good that the FBI is undertaking a terrorism angle but let us wait for facts before drawing conclusions www.nytimes.com/2025/11/27/u...

Google generates a page of content with every default search

Pope Leo XIV told students not to use artificial intelligence for homework, saying that AI ‘won’t stand in authentic wonder before the beauty of God’s creation.’

This week: SDF participation in the MEPS Forum, repeated clashes in Raqqah and DeZ, the Govt's later opening of all crossings with SDF, Abdi interview with Mezopotamya, Shammar sheikhs visits with both Shar' and 'Abdi, al-Buwaydani UAE detention update... akmckeever.substack.com/p/this-week-...

A complete lack of ethics and self-criticism among basically all political journalists?

Also these are people at the heights of the industry, and both Nuzzi and Lizza were almost instantly rehabilitated by top media companies after a first round of scandals that should have made them radioactive. Now lo and behold, much bigger shoes to drop, and we probably haven't seen the last of it.

It is beyond infuriating that Lizza sat on all of this for so long (and let’s not even talk about the Butler anecdote as a cliffhanger for his next installment.) he shouldn’t make another cent from journalism, ever.

why not both

To be fair, it's also a ton of work avoiding seeing or hearing any potential information about anything happening in the country

much of the work on AI-generated misinformation focuses on regular users/communities, while ignoring how political and economic elites can seal themselves into a hermetic slop box -- a repeat of the same mistake we made with radicalization and conspiracism in the previous decade

debates over Suwayda's relationship with Damascus from about 90 years ago

President Trump we need Rome season 3

Aside from all the very obvious problems with the idea that consumers are to blame for not wanting or needing your product, there's a reasonable chance I would buy a new phone if it wasn't stuffed to the gills with un-turnoffable AI bloat

Three people arrested in Paris on suspicion of spying for Russia www.lemonde.fr/en/internati...

I review the first trial over the coastal violence, including security personnel, to highlight its significance and the government’s calculated approach to justice. The question now is whether it ushers in real accountability or becomes another symbolic gesture. en.majalla.com/node/328396/...

What if, and hear me out, all of our current problems are because a bunch of mostly white dudes *know* they're stupid and think they can drown that thought out by demanding everyone else bow to them?

New interview w/al-Suwayda' Druze faction Quwat Qalib al-Karama (one of 'National Guard' groups).Topics include the faction's history,current stance towards Damascus govt, Druze identity & name of region, & whether Jaramana model could work for al-Suwayda' www.aymennaltamimi.com/p/druze-fact...

A look at how security pressure in Turkey and the Afghanistan–Pakistan region weakened ISIS’ Turkish-language media presence.

They planned to force him to crash or shoot him for recording their crimes. They then accused him of assaulting them. www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/c...

A look at the four crossings btw Gov't/SDF areas (three of them currently closed), Central Asian SNA faction Turan Tugayi's roots in jihadist faction al-Tawhid wa'l-Jihad, an excerpt on the founding of Qamishli during the French Mandate akmckeever.substack.com/p/weekend-no...

c'mon www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

My latest post: looking at the various Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) factions that were active in Lebanon & Syria during the war in Syria, plus an interview w/a (now defunct) SSNP faction member from Latakia who still believes in the ideology www.aymennaltamimi.com/p/the-syrian...

For Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities, monthly CPI values are used to interpolate daily index ratios that determine accrued interest Without CPI value, regulations for TIPS call for a synthetic number “based on last available 12-mo change in CPI” www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

BREAKING: BLS says it will not publish an October CPI. November CPI will be delayed to Dec. 18, meaning too late for the FOMC meeting the previous week. #NumbersDay #EconSky www.bls.gov/bls/2025-lap...

Drawing on detailed analysis of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan’s evolving technological capabilities, Akash Shah outlines how tools such as satellite-GPS fusion for drone activity are being repurposed to amplify the group’s propaganda and operational effectiveness.

In my latest, I highlight the need for the optimism sparked by the $28bn in #investment pledges in #Syria to stay cautious and anchored in realism and #transparency. Ambition is essential to recovery, but so is managing #expectations about the road ahead. en.majalla.com/node/328351/...

The rescue of civilians from Sweida in a special operation in Daraa signals a positive shift in the government's role. It's moving away from acting as a hostage negotiator to enforcing the rule of law & making clear that civilians can't be used as bargaining chips www.zamanalwsl.net/news/article...

This is why you can miss me with the "the failure of the Comey prosecution shows they are weak" takes. Even winning the case, as she has, is a load of unimaginable trauma for anyone who is not an absolute elite in this society.

Call it the Underton Window -- the ever-narrowing field of violence-adjacent language deemed acceptable to ordinary people as compared to the dramatically expanded Overton Window with regard to openly violent language by the regime and its supporters.

Good context here, although the primary audience for this post is not the legal community but the organized and less-organized volunteers in his base.