A US soldier involved in Nicolás Maduro's capture was arrested for allegedly placing a bet on the operation that made him $400,000 in profits, a source says. https://cnn.it/4eCslt5
Colm O'Cinneide
@colmocinneide.bsky.social
Professor of Constitutional and Human Rights Law, UCL. Irishman in London (and sometimes Brussels).
it's not immediately visible in the US unless you are in DC, where practically everybody is—at maximum—one degree of separation away from someone who got DOGEd
David Roberts@volts.wtf · 3mo agoStill feel like "Musk and his crew of incels destroyed a bunch of stuff they didn't understand and thereby hastened the deaths of millions of children" did not get the public attention it warranted.
Reporter: What do you make of Republicans saying that Virginia— AOC: Wah wah wah. We have asked Republicans for 10 years to ban partisan gerrymandering. And for 10 years, Republicans have said no. What they’re just mad at is that they have been accustomed to a Democratic Party that rolls over.
Hungary’s PM-in-waiting Péter Magyar knows exactly what he wants from Brussels, and Brussels knows what it expects from Budapest. This is where the grand bargain begins.
Péter Magyar maps out grand bargain to reset Hungary’s ties with Brussels
Hungary’s new leader is racing against the clock to regain access to billions of euros in EU funds, but must at the same time satisfy many demands from Brussels.
politico.eu
NEW—I got an exclusive excerpt from a USAID whistleblower's new book that made me gasp multiple times. It details Trump's dismantling of the humanitarian aid agency & his team/DOGE's shocking ignorance to public health. 'Into the Wood Chipper' by Nicholas Enrich is out tomorrow. Read excerpt here:
Whistleblower says Trump officials thought USAID did 'just abortions,' asked for 'Barney-style' slides before gutting agency, per new book
Read an exclusive excerpt from Nicholas Enrich's "Into the Wood Chipper"
thehandbasket.co
Whichever way you imagine this to have come about, it's hilarious. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Meta creating AI version of Mark Zuckerberg so staff can talk to the boss
Digital clone being trained on his thoughts, tone and mannerisms to help workers feel connected
theguardian.com
Thanks @colmocinneide.bsky.social for your inspiring talk about the past, present, and future of equality law @unisouthampton.bsky.social. There has been positive feedback from the audience. Hopefully some will have gone away with renewed resolve to shape that future. #equality #law #annual #lecture
Not uncommon, @sundersays.bsky.social. See "Journal of Politics", Volume 85, Number 1, January 2023, doi.org/10.1086/722042
Sunder Katwala (sundersays)@sundersays.bsky.social · 5mo agoThere has been a remarkable radicalisation of *elite* political and media discourse on mass deportations and remigration. This is based on an elite perception (+ misperception) of what the public want. Media and political elites have not spotted how skewed their perception of what the public is
Last chance to register! Annual Lecture Wed 25 Feb, 6-7 PM: “Taking Stock & Looking Forward: The Past, Present & Future of Equality Law” by @colmocinneide.bsky.social, Professor of Constitutional and Human Rights Law at UCL, www.eventbrite.com/e/annual-lec... (hybrid). #equality #law #lecture
Annual Lecture: Taking Stock & Looking Forward: The Past, Present & Future
Join us for a thought-provoking discussion of equality law, reflecting on the past, understanding the present, and envisioning the future.
eventbrite.com
worst structural con law decision in the 20th century
Josh Chafetz@joshchafetz.bsky.social · 7mo agoI've just uploaded a revised version of "The Chadha Presidency" to SSRN. The revisions both account for some incredibly helpful feedback I've gotten from colleagues and also bring the discussion of the Trump presidency up to date (as of today). papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
It's really too bad the United States Congress no longer exists.
Good diplomatic reasons for Europeans to try to appeal for calm and work it out behind the scenes with the US. But just this morning Trump posted pictures of him putting the flag on Greenland, and presenting his conquests of Greenland and Canada to European leaders.
Yes. My theory of the moment is Miller/Vance thought their view that immigrants threaten social solidarity would be widely shared. But ICE raids are driving native-born Americans to show solidarity with immigrants quite courageously. Now Miller is trying to disrupt that alliance with state violence.
Don Moynihan@donmoyn.bsky.social · 7mo agoInsightful point here: Even if you take Trump seriously - he does not like the optics - they rested on an assumption that communities would welcome ICE as heroes, rather than showing the type of solidarity that Trump inherently cannot understand.
What's happened since the 2024 election is that US politics has moved from a version of the political game at the national level that was predominantly governed by the norms, rules, and expectations of the pluralist game of politics to the friend-enemy mode.
![A table with three headings at the top which read: Friend-Enemy Politics, Pluralist Politics, and Technocratic Politics. The first row is titled "social ontology of politics (what is the political world made of?), the second is titled "task of politics (what do we think we're doing in politics?), the third is titled "goal of politics (what does politics generate?):"
The social ontology of politics in friend-enemy politics is a "world made up of friends and enemies. No neutrality or fairness. Identity overriding," in pluralist politics it is a "world made up of innumerable groups who must find ways to live together. Identity is central," in technocratic politics, the "world [is] composed of individuals who experience common problems. No groups, no identity."
The task of politics in the friend-enemy mode is "for the virtuous 'Us' to defeat the evil 'Them,'" in pluralist politics it is "conciliation of different groups and their competing interests," in technocratic politics it is "solving social problems."
The goal of politics in friend-enemy politics is "public tokens of 'our' domination or of enemy's defeat;" in pluralist politics it is "fair compromise;" in technocratic politics it is "effective policy."
A green circle around the column heading "pluralist politics" is joined to a red circle around the column heading "friend-enemy politics" by a yellow arrow, denoting movement from the former to the latter mode of politics.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2c4hmyxdfk4aky3jeoulhog5/bafkreifxiwfwlyixiawlmn7gixxwnmb6yfpjjz2eluxa77ecpf2rc4gjla)
There you have it; the Trump admin allows ICE lawyer James Rodden to stay on the job. His personal social media account praised Hitler, supported white nationalism, and said that America started going downhill the day that Lincoln was elected.
steven monacelli@stevanzetti.bsky.social · 7mo agoBREAKING: James Rodden, an ICE prosecutor who the Observer identified last year as the operator of an X account that posted “America is a White nation," “‘Migrants’ are all criminals,” and apparent praise of Adolf Hitler, appeared to be back at work Tuesday. www.texasobserver.org/ice-prosecut...
Some left-wing commentary on Iran seems oblivious to the fate of the Tudeh leadership & the rest of the secular socialist left after Khomeini's 'anti-imperialist' takeover - not to mention other groups, such as the Baha'i, feminist activists etc. See this 2024 UN Special Rapporteur report:
ohchr.org
If the figures we're getting out of Iran are in the right league, this weekend was, I think, one of the bloodiest state crackdowns of all time. People are talking 12,000-20,000 dead; for comparison Hungary in 1956 was about 2,500, Tiananmen - across country, in multiple cities - probably 1000+
Such a loss. Listening to Ó Riada sa Gaiety tonight - a milestone of Irish music & culture.
TG4@tg4.bsky.social · 7mo ago💔
I do not trust a person in matters of moral clarity when their views of government murder of innocent people changes depending on the location of the government and the profile of the victims.
Obituary of Sir James Munby by Sir Nicholas Mostyn, wonderful as much for the non-legal asides as for the cases - "he always described himself as a passionate ferro-equestrian" - and for this: "a kind, witty, and deeply compassionate human being" financialremediesjournal.com/sir-james-mu...
Sir James Munby Obituary
Sir Nicholas Mostyn writes about the life of Sir James Munby, who died on 1 January 2026: "a great leader, a brilliant historian, a remarkable lawyer, and a superb writer".
financialremediesjournal.com
Excellent LRB piece on Xi Jinping - fair & balanced. Well worth a read. (For what it's worth, I think there is more substance to the 'New Development Concept' than this suggests.) www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Tom Stevenson · Climbing the Ziggurat: Xi Jinping’s Inheritance
China, which in the post-Cold War period was viewed as either lunch for American capital or an irredeemable dungeon, has...
lrb.co.uk
Founded in 1948, @antaisce.bsky.social is Ireland’s oldest environmental charity, now says in all that time, it has never faced a threat to its ability to fulfill its legal functions regarding planning on a par with current government proposals. www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/20...
An Taisce urges public to object to ‘unlawful’ caps on judicial review fees
Heritage and environmental charity says Government’s proposal is a ‘significant attack on civil society and public accountability’
irishtimes.com
My initial take on the criminal law governing the ICE shooting in MN: 609.066 of the MN Code controls a self-defense claim for a "peace officer" under state law. I'm not going to consider federal law given the capture of the DOJ by the Trump administration. 1/
I understand the pressures on the BBC, but Radio 4's coverage of the Minneapolis shooting is an example of "bad balance". It's all "the Trump regime says she was a terrorist, but Democrats say it was murder". The BBC has the footage. It doesn't have to treat truth and falsehood as equally valid.
ICE shot and killed a woman on camera today. We all saw the video. The Trump administration is lying.
NEWS: In a heartbreaking video, after ICE shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis, a woman who was in the same SUV cries out: “They killed my wife. I don’t know what to do." “We stopped to videotape, and they shot her in the head,” the distraught woman sobs. www.advocate.com/news/minneso...
Distraught woman says ICE killed her wife in video after deadly Minneapolis shooting
“They killed my wife,” the distraught woman says, adding, “They shot her in the head.”
advocate.com
It's unfair to say that X is only a site for Nazis *or* porn - it's also a site for Nazi porn.
Decoherence Media@decoherence.media · 7mo agoBREAKING: X’s chatbot Grok isn’t just making AI porn deepfakes, it’s now making Nazi AI porn deepfakes, undressing women and showing them wearing “swastika bikinis”. Many of these women are Jewish, including a recently deceased Holocaust survivor.