Once again, marginal income, capital gains, & wealth tax rates are too low & this poses an existential threat to the Republic

Schaarse onderwijsmiddelen moeten opnieuw worden verdeeld, wat harde keuzes vergt, “dat zal niet iedereen prettig vinden,” waarschuwt Peter Wennink. UNL-voorzitter @casparvandenberg.bsky.social vraagt zich echter af of dit de juiste weg is en hoopt op extra investeringen, niet op een herverdeling.

Armed ICE agents trapped US citizens in a restaurant and demanded their papers. Federal agents walked into East African restaurants in Cedar-Riverside, MN. They closed and blocked the doors. Then they demanded to see everyone’s papers. Every person present was a US citizen.

"‘It’s surreal’: US sanctions lock Intl Criminal Court judge out of daily life. Canadian judge Kimberly Prost is unable to use credit cards or access everyday services (Uber, Alexa, Ticketmaster...) in what she calls an attack on the independence of the judiciary." www.irishtimes.com/world/us/202...

A very comprehensive account. ‘The NSS normalises an openly racialised worldview: people of colour and certain other minorities threaten civilisation itself simply by existing and moving. This is not subtle dog-whistling; it is the whistle blown at full volume, with the full authority’ of the US.

De NRC interviewde Arend Lijphart de belangrijkste Nederlandse politicoloog www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2025/...

"Het is een journalistieke taak om dat mechanisme te analyseren, niet om de boodschapper te psychologiseren.De vraag is dus niet waarom Klaver teleurgesteld is. De vraag is waarom zovelen zo veel moeite doen om te voorkomen dat zijn analyse gehoord wordt." www.bnnvara.nl/joop/artikel...

Het rapport Wellink lijdt aan dezelfde bloedarmoede als bijna al het wetenschapsbeleid - geesteswetenschappen alleen als helper van toegepaste wetenschappen. Op het moment dat we als samenleving geen ruimte overlaten voor de vragen die ons mens maken verliezen we als samenleving wat ons mens maakt.

Onze staatsschuld is té laag (43% BNP - we mogen 60% - Frankrijk heeft 112% BNP staatsschuld). Als we niet nu zelf investeren betalen we straks de Franse pensioenen van dat geld (62,8 jaar pensioenleeftijd daar) 'Nú investeren of we raken achterop' nos.nl/artikel/2594... via @NOS

“I'm also telling folks whether you are a citizen born in this nation or or not. If you are black and brown, take any documentation with you. It is sad that that is what I have to tell my constituents here in The United States” This is harrowing as the ICE raids expand.

“When human rights defenders get punished and the criminals are received with the red carpet, everyone has a problem and can become the next victim,” Francesca Albanese told FP’s @jchaltiwanger.bsky.social.

The Somali community in Minnesota is targeted, but with a lot of pushback: “Many attempts don’t pan out…either because the suspect isn’t home or because other obstacles get in the way, such as persistent protestors or property managers who restrict ICE personnel’s movements within any given area”

One under-appreciated part of this: note the bit below about “and their dependents.” Under the Trump admin’s new policy, dependent children of visa applicants are not allowed to have their social media set to private during the entire visa process. They MUST make their social media public.

‘Yet we are much better at describing and analysing – cynics say “admiring” – the problem than at crafting effective strategies to combat the forces undermining democracy. A range of suggestions for how to fight back was outlined at the annual conference of the European Policy Centre (EPC)’.

'Seven German journalism students tracked Russian-crewed freighters lurking off the Dutch and German coast—and connected them to drone swarms over military bases.' www.digitaldigging.org/p/they-drone...

I think a bigger problem is that so many are more interested in the science than in the politics.

Look this is all quite straightforward. For political science just add “ ̶w̶r̶i̶t̶e̶ ̶a̶b̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶U̶n̶i̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶S̶t̶a̶t̶e̶s̶ properly identify your estimand”

Nieuws: minister Sander Dekker onderhield nauw persoonlijk contact met de goklobby in aanloop naar het legaliseren van online gokken: "Gelukt. Well done!" Met @derkstokmans.bsky.social in @nrc.nl 👇 www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2025/...

“Mr. Kushner’s private equity fund is one of the many groups helping Paramount mount a hostile bid to buy the group, whose holdings include CNN” And now we have to worry about this too, one big business conglomerate with a Trump stamp on it. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/08/b...

The fact this point has to be made by special counsel Agarwal at the Supreme Court in defense of congressional powers (related to questioning what the limits are for Congressional power rather than the power of the executive) makes this a lost case, in my opinion.

It is really, really hard to get your head around the raw hubris of the majority. They really will be destabilizing the operating structure of the entire U.S. government. Why? Because they believe they have a better idea about how the past century should've been done.

Breaking News: The Supreme Court appeared poised to give President Trump more power to fire independent government officials despite laws meant to shield them.

"Our convictions were clear, and we did know some things, but our knowledge was woefully inadequate. Not to put too fine a point on it, but we didn’t know much. I now think of our combination of 1) immense confidence and 2) inadequate knowledge with a combination of amusement and embarrassment." 1/2

I’ll attempt to live-skeet the Trump v. Slaughter oral arguments at 10 am. I might be considered biased b/c I filed amicus briefs in Slaughter & Cook, with particular historical interpretations. Or I might be considered well-informed. You can judge for yourself. See the summary below & a thread…

“The document becomes much more energetic and innovative when it turns to civilizational issues. There is clearly a strong racial element to the administration’s definition of civilisation - even if not quite spelled out”, Rachman notes The wave of mass migration again www.ft.com/content/9536...

Not at all surprising that @gideonrachman.bsky.social nails it in his reading of the NSS here. "The Trump administration view of 'western civilisation' is based on race, Christianity and nationalism. The European version is a liberal view founded on democracy, human rights and the rule of law ..."

 The US should "not threaten to interfere in the democratic life" of its European allies, European Council President António Costa said.  

"Voer een kritisch debat over organisatie, programmering en journalistieke keuzes, maar wel met feiten, niet met verdachtmakingen. Een instituut opbouwen is veel moeilijker dan het afbreken. Termen als 'activisme' en 'staatsomroep' zijn ongefundeerd, misleidend en schadelijk."

In a way this also demonstrates the strength of the EU as a global player, especially in economic terms, which threatens the transactionalist attitude of the Trump administration and the large tech companies. Other players want the EU to see itself as weak.

Dit zou toch gevolgen moeten hebben voor de Nederlandse politiek. Het is tijd dat de middenpartijen de vraag van George Bush opwerpen: ben je voor of tegen ons? Alle anti-autoritaire Europese krachten zouden zich moeten bundelen.

Most philanthropy towards U.S. universities is about ego of the giver, not need of the receiver. MacKenzie Scott is a rare exception. Most of her gifts are truly transformative, as they go to less privileged organizations and are unconditional. ❤️

Max Stier of the Partnership for Public Service. “One hopes that they recognize that, whatever interest they’ve had in theory, in practice they’re unleashing an autocracy. And the further down that road they go, the worse it will be. It’s bad already.”

Read this: www.wgbh.org/news/local/2...

Donald Trump demands the government to compensate him for “damages” done by the FBI raids at Mar-a-Lago at an exhorbitant level, whilst the Trump supporters, such as January 6th rioters, are also encouraged to do so by the DOJ. See the full piece here:

It would be all too easy to overlook this case with everything else that's going on, but it's too important to miss, so I wrote a rare midday post. open.substack.com/pub/joycevan...

The Trump administration is going after the lower courts, being aided by earlier Supreme Court decisions re: Texas redistricting. This argued that district courts inserted themselves in an “active primary campaign” as the SCOTUS majority dismissed the in depth fact-finding bsky.app/profile/kels...

Simply amazing that the Supreme Court declared an end to legal race discrimination in the affirmative action case two years ago and now allows overt racism in both immigration arrests and redistricting. Using race to help minorities? Bad. Using it to discriminate against them? Very, very good.

HHS spokesperson: "Our priority is ensuring that the information presented internally and externally by HHS reflects gold standard science. We remain committed to reversing harmful policies enacted by Levine and ensuring that biological reality guides our approach to public health." Incredible.

"A Chinese hospital ship quietly docked in hurricane-hit Jamaica this week, projecting soft power into the heart of the Caribbean where a US armada is conducting a controversial anti-narcotics mission targeted at Venezuela."

Or the “toddler-in-chief”: “The evidence for this characterization of Trump … comes not from his political opponents, but his allies, staffers and subordinates. Trump's lack of impulse control, short attention span and frequent temper tantrums” (Drezner, 2020) academic.oup.com/ia/article-a...

“Aan kinderen leer je dat wie dramt, zeurt, zuigt, jengelt, sart, spuugt, eist, krijst, krabt, stampvoet of aldoor ‘nee!’ gilt, wordt overgeslagen, maar in Den Haag doen ze niet aan opvoedlogica” www.volkskrant.nl/columns-van-...

Biden: So, folks, that's my message to all of us today, to all who love our country, to all of us are dismayed by the present state of the union: it's time to get up, get up and fight back. Get up. Continue to fight. What's the fight all about? Protecting the constitution.

The Trump administration is sure insightful in what associates to steer away from or to oppose.

The Trump administration has set forth a national security strategy that paints European allies as weak and aims to reassert America's dominance in the Western Hemisphere. n.pr/3KiaCut

Ex-minister geeft aan hoe de academische vrijheid eruit moet zien, ironisch genoeg. Eppo Bruins: “Ik pleit daarom voor een radicale academische vrijheid…zo moet er ook een radicale scheiding tussen wetenschap en politiek zijn” www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2025/...

Harald Oskar Sohlberg (Norwegian, 1869-1935) “Autumn landscape” 1910

“You cannot learn or grow while trying to appear as if you have everything figured out…Perfection is stagnation. It is not only musicians who are stunted by the search for perfection. The need to be, or seem to be, perfect is harming many aspects of our lives” www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/o...

‘Zo zou de ombudsman zijn conclusies hebben getrokken op basis van individuele casuïstiek. „Zijn onderzoek gaat m.a.w. alleen over ongetoetste ervaringen”’. Vreemd punt; dat is toch altijd het geval? Ik ben benieuwd wat de ombudsman hierop gaat zeggen.

Anyone know when those Epstein files will be released? 🙄 #askingforafriend