British Synagogue Attacker Pledged Allegiance to ISIS, Police Say www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/w...

"Many of the CEOs I spoke with didn’t care about democracy per se. For them, democracy wasn’t a moral good. It was a source of volatility. What they wanted was stability... " But "The evidence is overwhelming: countries that weaken democracy do not gain more stability and security, they lose it."

NEW Has the government overreached in using terrorism law against Palestine Action? A disclosed MI5 document indicates that the basis for proscription may be weak By me, at @prospectmagazine.co.uk www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...

1. Wasn’t “British Ice” a Zima-like beverage in the 90s? 2. Kind of an oxymoron too #roomtemperature

Interesting but perhaps not surprising - the vast majority of research (86%) on "covert action" focuses on Western states. Much of that, US and UK. Similar to what I found regarding literature on armed conflict. doi.org/10.1080/0268...

Essex in the news

This is helpful, even for a very slow runner like myself.

Over the weekend, Trump's deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller repeatedly attacked judges, calling them part of an "organized terrorist attack" on the US government.... On Saturday, the home of a judge who ruled against Trump, went up in flames time.com/7323442/sout...

Men in balaclavas set fire to a mosque in East Sussex last night. It's only appearing on the BBC's local coverage, rather than its main national headlines, despite coming just a week after the (also under-reported) firebombing of an asylum hotel in London last week www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Jihad Al-Shamie: Who was the Manchester synagogue attacker? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This is wild but worth reading. “The group was passionately vegan, mostly transgender and highly educated. Seven of them are now in jail.” www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/u...

Criminals change course after public revulsion. Fascinating and pretty rare (but see article for comparable examples). Hackers delete children's pictures and data after nursery attack backlash www.bbc.com/news/article...

Today's collective action feat from war-ravaged Portland - all the golden retrievers dressed in a Halloween costume at the pumpkin patch managed to come together for a photo

I first thought the headlines were “US troops to Poland.” That would make sense.

Trends in Terrorism Research and Publications (2010–2023): A Multi-Dimensional Analysis of Authorship, Thematic and Methodological Shifts. by Nyadera, Odote, and Agwanda, and Nzau. Looks super interesting! Geographic location of authors/institutions, gender, topics... doi.org/10.1080/1057...

Now we're at 19. 19 new groups added to the US Foreign Terrorist Organization list this year. 13 of them are drug cartels or gangs.

Also, Barrio 18 was founded *in* the United States

The US designated transnational gang Barrio 18 as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. This is big news because there's a large *US-based* component of the gang in Los Angeles. (All other FTOs are, uh, foreign.) Prediction: this will be used to imprison and/or deport even more people in LA.

I don't know about you, but I'm feeling like this is an interesting academic article "Acoustic analysis of Taylor Swift's dialect changes across different eras of her career" pubs.aip.org/asa/jasa/art... #language #data #tunes

It was like 2 scandals ago now, but some folks might recall that the US government "designated" antifa as a "domestic terrorist organization" yesterday. Traveling, so a few quick thoughts: Is it now a crime to be a "member" of antifa? Can the govt seize antifa funds? (lol) Are there sanctions? 🧵

I guess he just made the declaration.

It's happening!

Belfast rap trio Kneecap banned from Canada for ‘glorifying terrorist organisations’ www.theguardian.com/music/2025/s...

You probably missed it - the US govt just added FOUR new groups to the Foreign Terrorist Organizations list. For decades, there have been about 2 new FTOs per year. This year, the Trump admin has added 18 (EIGHTEEN) new FTOs. Can CT practitioners really pursue so many groups? Is this only talk?

Saying you designate something doesn’t necessarily have a legal meaning. (See pic 2.) There is no US *domestic* terrorist list. However, like FTO designation, this weird declaration does serve as a focal point, telling agencies what to prioritize. (A mostly nonviolent movement.)

“No, Trump probably can’t list antifa as a ‘terrorist group.’ Here’s what he’s really doing.” I wrote this 5 years ago. Seems relevant today. wapo.st/4n94yT9

Saying you designate something doesn’t necessarily have a legal meaning. (See pic 2.) There is no US *domestic* terrorist list. However, like FTO designation, this weird declaration does serve as a focal point, telling agencies what to prioritize. (A mostly nonviolent movement.)

No law authorizes the president to designate something as a domestic terrorist org (only a foreign terrorist org), so it will be interesting to see what law he invokes here (if any). “Domestic terrorism” is more of a concept than anything with a legal underpinning.

I have a new op-ed out 'Celebrate Adolescence's Emmy win - but don't forget the message at its core' @lbc.co.uk www.lbc.co.uk/article/cele...

So uh there's a lot going on today. But I wrote this icct.nl/publication/... Did you know the US has added 12 *criminal groups* to the Foreign Terrorist Organization list this year? There were zero such FTOs last year. For decades, US allies have copied US terrorist designations. Not this year.

Use of the word "evil" in official congressional e-newsletters, over time, by party

What’s the best evidence Robinson is a groyper or fan of Nick Fuentes? The phrases on the shell casings?

So uh there's a lot going on today. But I wrote this icct.nl/publication/... Did you know the US has added 12 *criminal groups* to the Foreign Terrorist Organization list this year? There were zero such FTOs last year. For decades, US allies have copied US terrorist designations. Not this year.

Good point to highlight study by @alessandronai.bsky.social Patrick van Erkel and I showing that political violence rather increases than decreases support for violence especially among voters disliking the target and experiencing Schadenfreude academic.oup.com/poq/article/...

Kirk wasn't an elected official, but he was very popular. The chance of reprisals, tit-for-tat violence, seems pretty high. What are comparisons? A bad possibility is Years of Lead 1970s Italy. Even Argentina in early 1970s? US 1960s. Are there others? 1/2

Good points, but I'd suggest the storming of the Capitol deserves its own line. These are dangerous times in the US, and voices of calm and reason like this are needed - not incitement. What will we get from US political leaders?

It seems like we're experiencing a sort of rerun of the political violence of the 1960s—except this time we have the internet cooking everyone's brains. None of this leads anywhere good.

🚨 New PhD Opportunity at Anglia Ruskin University 🚨 Happy to announce a new funded PhD opportunity - looking at The Role of AI in Extermist MisInformation (w/ Lakshmi Babu Saheer & Elisa Orofino). 📌 ESRC Research Priority Areas: Security, risk and resilience www.cam-dtp.ac.uk/students/cur...

Paul Musgrave on the Israeli attack on Doha: “Hamas’s political leadership was in Doha because Washington asked Doha to host them. They were here for negotiations. And now they are dead as the result of a covert assassination.” musgrave.substack.com/p/this-is-fi...

I encourage people to watch this video. The selected footage shows the professor doing nothing even slightly out of line, whereas the student misinterprets the law and hopes to impose her religious beliefs on the material. Administrators caving to this is terrifying.

ICYMI, the US has two new Foreign Terrorist Organizations: Los Lobos and Los Choneros! They're from Ecuador. There are now 12 criminal groups on the 80-group FTO list. All added this year. www.pbs.org/newshour/wor...

I had the pleasure of joining NPR's @planetmoney.bsky.social to talk about central banks, what’s happening with the Fed, & why it matters. Big thanks to @erikaberas.bsky.social for a fun and engaging interview (+ Carola Binder & Lev Menand). @uniessexgov.bsky.social www.npr.org/2025/09/05/n...

A record-breaking number of arrests in one day. Also it adds up to more than 1,500 arrests since Palestine Action’s proscription 2 months ago.

Oh.

Philanthropy is weird. “William and Flora Hewlett Foundation hiring Program Director in CA. $500,00-$600,000.”

👏 Congratulations to our PhD candidate, Winifred Michael, on publishing her first article in Contemporary Politics! 🎉 Read it here 👉 doi.org/10.1080/1356... #EssexGov

Check out this new article from @amayoap.bsky.social, PhD from @uniessexgov.bsky.social ! Important finding: "EU aid for peace reduces civilian victimisation"

US president Donald Trump and his Secretary of State Marco Rubio just announced that today the US military conducted a "lethal strike" in the southern Caribbean against a drug vessel that had allegedly departed from Venezuela and was being operated by a "designated narco-terrorist organization".

Another day, another "almost" act of war by Russia