The anti-Trump coalition is a negative coalition, defined by what it opposes. Durable political change requires a positive coalition, defined by what it believes and the principles that will defend. Here is my outline of those principles... and the stakes. www.liberalcurrents.com/the-republic...

In the case any of these flights took place against court orders, could flight crew and staff be charged as accessories to law breaking? If so, Democratic politicians need to be putting that out there loud and clear - everyone in the logistical chain needs to have that in the back of their heads.

Gillian Brockell@gillianbrockell.com · 6mo ago

SCOOP: ICE has done more than 60 secret flights on Air Wisconsin since mid-January, according to @iceflightmonitor.bsky.social. I watched one load this afternoon. gillianbrockell.ghost.io/air-wisconsi...

Is it a civil war? No - and: "[...] when the power of the state is being used to kill and kidnap and deport without any due process, so very capriciously and so much by one ethnic group aimed at others, it is very, very serious indeed." saideman.blogspot.com/2026/01/is-i...

Is It a Civil War? Not Yet

Things are truly awful in the US, so is this the time to get pedantic?  Well, maybe.  I posted on bluesky that I was more worried about e...

saideman.blogspot.com

I would argue that the case for dismantling ICE has, at this point, virtually nothing to do with larger questions of immigration enforcement and reform, it's just clearly incompatible with a free and democratic society to maintain a secret police force with sweeping and arbitrary authority.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Senator Gallego weighs in as well. Note that at the start of 2025 he was considered a *moderate* on immigration and co-sponsored the Laken Riley Act. Him and many other Dems have been increasingly horrified at what ICE is doing and shifted away from a "more enforcement" focus.

NEW: We @immcouncil.org just published a big new report on the growth of ICE detention in Trump's first year back in office. Not only do we track the rising scale of the detention infrastructure, we explain how changing enforcement tactics have shifted the profile of who is locked up by ICE.

Immigration Detention Expansion in Trump’s Second Term - American Immigration Council

Executive Summary When President Trump took office in January 2025, there were roughly 40,000 people being held in immigration detention. By the start of December, that number had risen by almost 75 p...

americanimmigrationcouncil.org

American Immigration Council@immcouncil.org · 7mo ago

NEW: Our latest report shows how historic funding increases and the Trump administration's aggressive enforcement tactics have pushed immigration detention to the highest level in U.S. history. Here’s what we found 🧵

I see this take around from time to time and totally disagree. ICE just murdered a woman standing up to them. No Kings is among the largest protests in history. The complacency is coming from elites in media, business, universities, and the Democratic leadership

"A big reason to worry that this could be messy is that Maduro was able to govern, or co-govern, by sitting atop a byzantine network of patronage, corruption, criminal governance, and shared sovereignty that, for now, remains in place." adamisacson.com/possible-vio...

www.eltiempo.com/justicia/jep...

I'm thrilled & grateful to have been awarded an @erc.europa.eu Consolidator Grant. #ERCCoG My project, GRID, will study how & why governments respond to internal displacement with protection or repression. www.uva.nl/en/content/n...

Nine UvA researchers receive ERC Consolidator Grants

The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded Consolidator Grants to nine UvA researchers. The laureates are: Thijs Bol, Jaron Harambam, Eirini Karyotaki, Patty Leijten, Dora Matzke, Matthijs Roodui...

uva.nl

News from a robust democracy

eileen chengyin chow@chowleen.bsky.social · 10mo ago

The South Korean Ministry of Defense has awarded medals of merit to 11 officers for disobeying direct orders of superiors during the martial law fiasco, orders that they deemed to be contrary to the constitution and endangerment to democracy. www.chosun.com/english/nati...

@brendannyhan.bsky.social is right: young people are reluctant to come to the defense of institutions that have excluded them, ignored them, and crushed their movements www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/o...

Wait till the president finds out that his administration _already cut_ something like 3/4 of US aid to "Columbia," along with most aid worldwide, earlier this year. Most of the aid that remains goes to Colombia's military and police—to support counter-drug operations.

To celebrate the upcoming release of my book, and to support emerging scholars, I'd like to buy and mail copies to ten graduate students. If you’re a grad student who’d like a copy, reply or DM me! www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...

Civilizing Contention by Rana B. Khoury | Paperback | Cornell University Press

In Civilizing Contention, Rana B. Khoury asserts that to understand civilian and refugee activism in war, we must regard the international actors and organizations that enter the scene to help. When.....

cornellpress.cornell.edu

The National Guard troopers confirming what everyone suspected; they don't want to be there.

Jacob Soboroff@jacobsoboroff.bsky.social · last yr.

“The moral injuries of this operation, I think, will be enduring,” one of the two Guard officials said. “This is not what the military of our country was designed to do, at all.” www.nytimes.com/2025/07/16/u...

Juan Masullo and I wrote a piece on the recent assassination attempt on Senator Uribe in Bogotá, its connections to the drug war, how it echoes the past, and why it is only the most visible form of how the drug war undermines democracy. 1/2

Journal of Democracy@jodemocracy.bsky.social · last yr.

"On June 7...Colombian senator and presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe Turbay was shot multiple times," write Juan Masullo and Abbey Steele. "The attempted assassination...has rocked Colombia, a country where such political violence feels all too familiar." www.journalofdemocra...

Juan Masullo and I wrote a piece on the recent assassination attempt on Senator Uribe in Bogotá, its connections to the drug war, how it echoes the past, and why it is only the most visible form of how the drug war undermines democracy. 1/2

Journal of Democracy@jodemocracy.bsky.social · last yr.

"On June 7...Colombian senator and presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe Turbay was shot multiple times," write Juan Masullo and Abbey Steele. "The attempted assassination...has rocked Colombia, a country where such political violence feels all too familiar." www.journalofdemocra...

The proposed Dutch law criminalising assistance to migrants A critical analysis, by Huub Verbaten - eulawanalysis.blogspot.com/2025/07/a-du...

A Dutch dangerous experiment in criminalizing compassion: How a parliamentary "slip-up" could create Europe's harshest migration law

Huub Verbaten , Research Fellow at the Clingendael Institute Photo credit : Markus Bernet, via Wikimedia commons On the evening of Jul...

eulawanalysis.blogspot.com

BCG helped set up a militarised aid scheme in Gaza, widely condemned by the humanitarian sector, and worked on cost models for relocating Palestinians out of the territory.

Russia’s entire military budget is only $145 billion. Stephen Miller got even more than that to expel people who don’t pass his racial standards—including naturalized citizens. And when they’re done with that, they’ll come after critics. When they create a gulag economy that big, it doesn’t go away.

Bolts@boltsmag.org · last yr.

$171 billion: That’s the sum the Republican megabill pours into President Trump's immigration agenda. “This money is going to ingrain immigration enforcement in all aspects of local law enforcement,” says an analyst at the American Immigration Council. boltsmag.org/how-the...

It also makes ICE better funded than most national militaries -- by a wide margin. This is the expansion of a secret police force.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · last yr.

With this vote, Congress makes ICE the highest-funded federal law enforcement agency in history, with more money per year at its disposal over the next four years than the budgets of the FBI, DEA, ATF, US Marshals, and Bureau of Prisons combined.

🚨 Big News for European Political Science 🚨 We’re thrilled to announce the launch of the European Political Science Society (EPSS): a new, member-led, not-for-profit association built to support our scholarly community. 🔗 epssnet.org Here’s a thread with everything you need to know. 🧵

Laughing in front of cages designed to hold migrants and refugees, many of whom came to this country fleeing extreme violence and poverty, and hoping to raise their children in a more compassionate country. And many of whom followed all the legal procedures to enter the country.

"From what I can tell, ICE is a secret police when acting in a public space...The comparativist in me wants to think about other police forces in history which had such broad and ill-defined powers. But such comparisons are too frightening." adamprzeworski.substack.com/p/week-19

WEEK 19

WEEK 19

adamprzeworski.substack.com

"...the only ideas offered by Democrats come from its left wing. The rest of the party is just catatonic. Its leadership is patiently waiting for Trump to fail, generously granting them electoral victory while attending weddings of billionaries."

Adam Przeworski@adamprz.bsky.social · last yr.

Still at it: adamprzeworski.substack.com/p/week-20

Four points I wish public and media commentary understood about #genocide in #Gaza, why legal experts are reluctant to diagnose gencoide and what that does NOT mean 🧵

Rep. Andy Ogles, a Republican from Tennessee, has sent a letter to Pam Bondi calling for Zohran Mamdani to be stripped of his citizenship and deported.

@adamprz.bsky.social on ICE's authorities & operating procedures: "The comparativist in me wants to think about other police forces in history which had such broad and ill-defined powers. But such comparisons are too frightening."

WEEK 19

WEEK 19

adamprzeworski.substack.com

an expert panel across Dutch universities has released a report that recommends cutting all institutional ties with Israeli universities - not on a case-by-case basis: academictiesisrael.nl @antigonesdream.bsky.social

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

This is more notice than they are prepared to give people before deporting them

CNN@cnn.com · last yr.

The Department of Homeland Security is asking members of Congress to provide 72 hours of notice before visiting detention centers, according to new guidance: cnn.it/4edTalh