Matthew Specter
@matthewspecter.bsky.social
Historian of political ideas, Sr Fellow@UC Berkeley’s Institute European Studies; lecturer @Santa Clara U; editor at HISTORY & THEORY; author, THE ATLANTIC REALISTS (Stanford 2022), write on IR theory, 20th cent. Germany, transatlantic intellectual history
OPENAI, ANTHROPIC STAFF CIRCULATE PETITION URGING US TO SUPPORT INTERNATIONAL EFFORT TO 'DELIBERATELY PACE' FRONTIER AI DEVELOPMENT, WARNING OF RISK IT ADVANCES FASTER THAN HUMANS CAN CONTROL; LETTER ALSO SHARED WITH GOOGLE DEEPMIND STAFF, EXPECTED PUBLIC THIS WEEK
This move is technically illegal, as 31 U.S. Code § 5112 proclaims that no coin shall “bear the image of a living former or current President,” until at least two years after their death. trib.al/FTvz6Mn
Happy with how this roundtable on Gerard Toal's most recent book came out, in Political Geography: authors.elsevier.com/a/1nMvT3Qu6u...
Excited to be part of this special issue on Philosophy in a Planetary Age, w/ great contributions by Dipesh Chakrabarty, Lynne Huffer, Mohamed Amer Meziane & others. My exchange with @mafritsch.bsky.social is on Climate Disobedience in the Capitalocene: www.pdcnet.org/pdc/bvdb.nsf...
Discussing Climate Disobedience in the Capitalocene - Volume 70, Issue 1, Winter 2026
This is the transcript of a written exchange that Robin Celikates and Matthias Fritsch carried out between November 2024 and March 2025. We focus the conversation on civil disobedience in response to ...
pdcnet.org
#Habermas, who died earlier this year, is the only then-living philosopher to be the subject of an episode, when Josh & Ken spoke to @matthewspecter.bsky.social from the @ucberkeleyies.bsky.social, author of "Habermas: An Intellectual Biography." More at philosophytalk.org/shows/haberm... #PhilSky
IES Senior Fellow Matthew Specter quoted in the New York Times on Realism in US National Security Strategy. Read the full article --> www.nytimes.com/2026/01/09/m...
Talarico is willing to theologically go toe-to-toe with white Christian Nationalism. And, importantly, he treats it as fundamental to this moment that Trump and Trumpism are wrecking our common life at a very profound moral and spiritual level. 5/ newrepublic.com/article/2109...
Breaking NYT: CBS News declined to renew its contract with '60 Minutes' correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi — six months after her segment on torture in Salvadoran prisons was pulled off the air abruptly by Bari Weiss. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/27/b...
‘60 Minutes’ Journalist Who Accused CBS of Political Meddling Loses Her Deal
nytimes.com
bsky.app
Team Talarico@teamtalaricohq.bsky.social · 2mo agoQ: What do you make of Ken Paxton calling you a vegan? James Talarico: I’m an eighth-generation Texan. I’ve been eating barbecue since before Ken Paxton’s first indictment. If all they have on me is lying about me being a vegan, I feel pretty good about our chances this November.
Hilarious thread about this bracing Travolta look, to which I would add the description: Saturday Night Fever Dreams of a Comfortable Retirement
Kevin M. Kruse@kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 3mo agoMy man looks like he directed an arthouse biopic about the Pillsbury Doughboy.
Nice piece from Jason Ralph: www.carnegiecouncil.org/media/articl...
Realism vs. Pragmatism: Understanding America’s New Rhetorical Landscape
Amid Trump's fiery rhetoric and debates over "realism," Professor Jason Ralph writes that "pragmatism" may offer a better alternative for the American public.
carnegiecouncil.org
If you're outraged by the Alabama House Speaker's call for overturning the Fourteenth Amendment and want to know more, give Kyle a follow.
Kyle Whitmire@warondumb.bsky.social · 3mo agoAlabama House speaker said he hopes SCOTUS “will overturn Amendment 14,” the one that made Black people citizens and guaranteed equal protection under law. It wasn’t just a slip. Today’s newsletter. 👉 link.al.com/public/45636...
Josh Marshall: "No Democrat should get elected to any federal office without a credible plan to reform the Supreme Court and rid it off its corruption, along with the willingness to enact such a plan."
Are Democrats Warming to Reforming the Supreme Court?
Yesterday, Lauren Egan — who authors The Bulwark’s newsletter about Democrats —...
talkingpointsmemo.com
If you can, do vote in this important election for @mybisa.bsky.social (and not only because I'm one of the seven fabulous candidates)! ⬇️🗳️🫶
BISA - British International Studies Association@mybisa.bsky.social · 3mo ago🚨Vote now🚨 Our executive Committee candidates for 2026 have been announced and it's your time to vote on who gets elected! If you are eligible to vote you will receive an email today with the link to our voting system 🌟 See all our candidates and find out more here 👉 https://ow.ly/uXr850YOS8R
The New Deal in the news: Thomas blames Bismarck —Bismarck!—for the US administrative state, prefers Catholic natural law
Mother Jones@motherjones.com · 4mo agoIt’s impossible to know why Thomas sounded so stern this week. But there’s a chance that it reflects a current frustration with his colleagues.
Thoughtful intervention from Jason Ralph, distinguished IR scholar at Leeds: www.carnegiecouncil.org/media/articl... #realism
Realism vs. Pragmatism: Understanding America’s New Rhetorical Landscape
Amid Trump's fiery rhetoric and debates over "realism," Professor Jason Ralph writes that "pragmatism" may offer a better alternative for the American public.
carnegiecouncil.org
The Introduction, “What is the Future We Yearn For?,” to my book, *The Future That Was*, is now live and freely available to all on the book’s @princetonupress.bsky.social website press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
The Future That Was
How Third World women seized the means of knowledge production to fight against rising authoritarianism and imagine a future freer than our present
press.princeton.edu
The Mamdani administration today announced its own click to cancel rule, to make sure that every subscription transaction in the city is as easy to end as it is to start. The FTC did this in 2023, it was challenged in court & Trump's FTC wouldn't defend it. NYC is doing it themselves.
UC-AFT lecturers continue the fight for a fair contract! Show your solidarity with U18 colleagues by observing Zoom or in-person bargaining sessions. #WeTeachUC weteachuc.org
The work of contextualizing and “listening“ to Habermas‘s will continue, as Martin Jay suggests in these elegant and measured reflections on a great listener in the dialectic tradition: www.theideasletter.org/essay/martin...
Almost two years ago, @cepr.org published an eBook with essays by prominent scholars & policymakers about the importance of supporting #Ukraine. This book is more relevant than ever. Read it! #UkrainianView cepr.org/publications...
"'If it weren't for Miller pushing, this would be dead by now,' the source told me. A new DHS secretary may not be the obstacle many wish it were." Read more to learn why now is the time to be making noise.
DHS Pauses Warehouse Purchases as Internal Revolt, Legal Challenges, and Political Infighting Cloud the Program's Future
Career officials call it unworkable. Communities are suing to stop it. Congress is investigating. And Stephen Miller is still pushing.
projectsaltbox.com
Danke.
Nils Altland@wieneuland.bsky.social · 5mo agoEs gibt so viel zu sagen über das Leben und Werk von Jürgen Habermas. Eins ist gerade jetzt wichtig: Er war ein Rationalist, als es nicht in Mode war, einer zu sein (meint sein Biograf Matthew Specter). Wir alle können von Habermas noch viel lernen. Schöner Nachruf: www.nytimes.com/2026/03/14/b...
SCOOP: Trump has spent his second term in office working to leave his mark on Washington and the country. Now, his Treasury Department plans to add his signature to all denominations of U.S. dollar bills. It will be the first time in history a sitting president's signature appears on dollar bills
Breaking: Donald Trump Plans to Add His Signature to US Currency
As Vanity Fair can exclusively report, Trump’s Treasury Department plans to add his signature to all denominations of US dollar bills.
vanityfair.com
