Brazilian lawmakers are debating a bill that would expand the definition of terrorism to include the activities of organised crime. Piece by Dr James Fitzgerald @jamesfitz2.bsky.social, Associate Professor of Security Studies at DCU, for @uk.theconversation.com. Read here: launch.dcu.ie/3GbJdIu

My third of three pieces on the potential (re-)classification of organised crime as terrorism in Brazil. Published today in @theconversation.com @ufrjoficial.bsky.social theconversation.com/brazils-dang...

Netanyahu has spent the better part of two decades trying to strong arm the United States into an unprovoked war against Iran and finally found a president stupid enough to do it for him. Unbelievable.

It’s a good thing Congress isn’t alive to see this

Based on crowd-sourced records of No Kings Day event turnout, and extrapolating for the cities where we don't have data yet, it looks like roughly 4-6 million people protested Trump across the U.S. yesterday. That's nearly 2% of the U.S. pop! Mobilized anti-Trump resistance is exceeding 2017 levels

it is Illegal to not enjoy this. www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

I’m published today in @folha.com, Brazil’s paper of record. I argue against the motion that organised crime in Brazil be re-classified as ‘terrorism’. In the other ‘corner’, Cláudio Castro, the Governor of Rio de Janeiro, argues for the motion.

This @willsommer.bsky.social piece, on MAGA influencers embedding with law enforcement to capture cruel images of migrants for their social media followings, really captures what I'm talking about in my piece below on MAGA's deep structural problem here. www.thebulwark.com/p/the-viciou...

My piece “Brazil’s Precarious Counterterrorism Project” is published today, in Português, in Outras Palavras (Other Words), as part of ongoing collaboration with NetLab, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. outraspalavras.net/direita-assa...

75% of American researchers & scientists are considering leaving the US www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Looking forward to presenting at this “International Workshop on Technology Justice For/From the Global South” tomorrow, at PUC-Minas, Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Will speak about genealogies of (critical) terrorism studies and how it intersects with current perspectives in disinformation studies.

Latest article with NetLab, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, w/Rose Marie Santini and Débora Salles. The Extraction Ideology: Pro-agribusiness propaganda in times of climate emergency. @dublincityuni.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Ordem e progresso 🇧🇷 www.nytimes.com/2025/03/26/w...

While Grok holds only a small market share compared to ChatGPT’s 62.5% dominance, access to vast government databases could provide a crucial competitive advantage.

Remember our conversation in 2016? Data has become the oil of the 21st century, and Elon Musk’s pursuit of IRS taxpayer data represents a modern version of industrial monopoly building

Old friend just laid off by USDA, 1 mos short of his probationary period as senior researcher. Brilliant person who left a tenured faculty position several yrs ago to join USDA. Bright early-career researchers also being laid off. USDA is terminating a generation of highly-qualified scientists.

This is one gigantic five alarm fire.

Mind boggling when you see the entire confirmed list of agencies with mass firing of probationary employees, :

What’s not a “journey” these days. Iconic mandatory cyber security journey vibes.

The best piece on Musk & DOGE that I’ve yet read. Finally, someone zones in on the video game vernacular that shapes so much of his (pathetic) behaviour and the juvenile frames by which his acts of destruction are carried out. There is no reset button. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/12/o...

not a new observation but Elon Musk genuinely isn't very bright, genuinely has no idea how most things work, and his entire supergenius engineer persona is a tech press-enabled mythology (they've never been held accountable for)

My latest column just appeared in Science, entitled "Free speech, fact-checking, and the right to accurate information”. (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...) I use one of President Trump’s first executive orders to unpack the terrain between misinformation and claims to free speech 1/n

"Do online conspiracy theories have any impact? Do disinformation campaigns work?"

Scientists and journalists need to figure out right quick how to explain to the average person how a massive change in research indirects will impact the medical care they and their children get (eg at the local children’s hospital), the education their children will get, the price of tuition, etc.

I read this Thiel article and…these incoherent conspiratorial ramblings would not pass muster in an undergraduate classroom.

Poynter calls bullshit on Zuckerberg’s “censorship” claims, explaining that fact-checking is speech, not censorship.

Thrilled to announce today @briannarosen.bsky.social as inaugural director of @justsecurity.org's new Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies Initiative! We look forward to partnering with @blavatnikschool.bsky.social (@ox.ac.uk). Stay tuned: www.justsecurity.org/106105/annou...

Roose nails this. Knows his stuff and delivers a well-written, piercing critique of the politics of Zuckerberg and Meta. Pretty essential reading, IMO. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/08/t...

What could go wrong? on.ft.com/3W6RphO

I cannot understand why Bluesky (still) does not have a bookmark option.

Outraged by Jan 6, he spent two years getting inside the top ranks of militias like the Oath Keepers. He was stunningly successful. He penetrated a new generation of militia leaders, which included doctors, cops & government attorneys. This is his story. www.propublica.org/article/ap3-...

WaPo cartoonist resigns after Post rejects her cartoon of billionaires paying tribute to Donald Trump, one of whom happens to be her boss, Jeff Bezos. Satire has literally died. anntelnaes.substack.com/p/why-im-qui...

I wrote an essay about our bottomless thirst for diversion and how avoiding boredom is the engine of modern life. It’s based on the research I did for my book. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/03/o...

Oh boy www.denver7.com/news/local-n...

There is a lot still to be analyzed about the New Orleans attack, but for MSNBC today, I argue that it is one more piece of evidence showing how we are failing in our approach to preventing mass violence 1/ www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

Elon Musk apparently renamed himself “Kekius Maximus” and changed his profile pic to Pepe the Frog last night These are all symbols associated with the so-called “alt-right” / online far-right, white nationalists, etc www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/20...

Wellness did. Who killed the rave? Late-night dancing falls into global decline on.ft.com/3DMiLmZ

There’s something tragically full circle about this. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024...

Looking forward to a productive discussion today at #EUI discussing peace and counter-infrastructures. Thanks @jdzankic.bsky.social for the invitation and for co-organising it! www.eui.eu/events?id=57...

And now X has verified Mangione’s account

Day 2 at the UN 🇺🇳: Presented expert-level briefing on extremism in gaming spaces. My take: Value of these spaces where people can ‘hang out’ & socialise shouldn’t be discounted and may defuse extremist ideation. We must learn from past mistakes of CT re. misplaced intervention and suspicion.

Pretty cool to have presented ongoing work with NetLab (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) at the UN today, with Dr. Débora Salles. Reflections and discussion on disinformation and extremism in Brazil (and beyond).

BREAKING: During the final weeks of the presidential campaign Elon Musk, the right-wing MAGA billionaire, made $75 million in campaign contributions to his Trump-aligned America PAC — Musk has contributed a total of $238,523,078 million to America PAC, according records filed today with the FEC.

NEW: X has become a hotbed of neo-Nazi content under Elon Musk. We identified the operators of four anonymous accounts that share racist, antisemitic, and neo-Nazi content. Three live in Texas. Musk has replied to two of them. One works for the Navy. www.texasobserver.org/revealed-ope...

Ready for the illiberal playbook?No @curdknupfer.bsky.social @sjjphd.bsky.social @dkreiss.bsky.social: "This tactic is insidious; it uses liberalism’s own positions against itself, such as demanding a right to free speech and tolerance to promote illiberal ideas" www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Now that we’ve been on Bluesky for a couple of weeks, it’s time to admit that…it’s a bit sh*t isn’t it? There’s no comparison re. reach of one’s posts or keeping up with breaking news, as defined the best of old Twitter.

Gave some comments for this article, ‘Why are right-wing influencers drinking raw milk?’ A great piece from Serena Smith. www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture...

A familiar story around the (inevitable) excesses of the UK Terrorism Act 2000 www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024...