If you’re new to submitting public comments on US draft regulations: you can remain anonymous (keep scrolling down) TL;dr another effort to defund universities ⬇️

Erika Waters@erikawatersphd.bsky.social · 4w ago

It’s a little convoluted, I had to go to the main federal register website and search for its document number. Here’s a direct link—click the big green button on the right. www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...

A quick PSA thread, in case you get a similar text. 1/5

As a Comparativist, if I saw this happening elsewhere, I’d describe this as (among other things) facilitating payments to the security services, right? Just so we’re clear.

BREAKING: You checked the weather this morning. And you just told a surveillance company where you sleep. Meet #Webloc, used by ICE, cops & foreign govs to track 500m+ phones. No warrant required. Our @citizenlab.ca investigation + how to protect yourself 🧵/1 citizenlab.ca/research/ana...

Hey, @merip.bsky.social is on the left and free to all consumers! And we do it on a microscopic budget compared to the right wingfluencers. You can help us keep it that way with a $10 donation today! www.delcogives.org/organization...

Support Middle East Research and Information Project on Delco Gives

The Middle East Research and Information Project has been supporting critical research and reporting on the Middle East since 1971. We work closely with academics, journalists, analysts and policy pro...

delcogives.org

Meghan Lands@meghanlands.bsky.social · 4mo ago

I don't know anything about Piker but I was REALLY interested in the bit about his utility in a paywalled news environment. Burns really hits it on the head here>

Before heading to bed, my 16 year old asked me “just a quick question - was there almost nuclear war today?” We cannot normalize this.

Qoboe - 3d comms open@qoboe.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Don't taco Tuesday this shit. Millions of people spent the day wondering if they would get vaporized, and no one in our government stood up to him. Nothing cutesy about it.

For @thenation.com I look at why the Saudis are telling Trump to escalate from the sidelines, and what it says about the US-led security architecture in the Persian Gulf. With gratitude for insights from @andrewleber.bsky.social and @philbrickyadav.bsky.social. www.thenation.com/article/worl...

How the Saudis Keep Sidestepping a Costly Role in the Iran War

The brutal Gulf monarchy has been cheerleading Trump’s insane war off-stage but won’t commit to any direct role in the conflict

thenation.com

bring back consequences and shame

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò@olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 4mo ago

everything we are seeing now is the consequence of having a political environment in which indifference to the deaths and suffering of other people - even by the state whose supposed responsibility is to safeguard their welfare - is a superpower rather than a political liability

Teaching a class on IHL in the fall [insert morbid joke if you must] and I'm looking for a good, recent case-study type monograph. What have you read recently that you can't forget? Will have plenty of articles etc. on the syllabus, but nothing beats a good book.

"It may take time to prove you're right, but you have to stick to it." - Fred Korematsu Jailed for refusing to abide by FDR's Exec Order 9066, he took his case against internment all the way to the Supreme Court - and lost. Remember him on Korematsu Day, January 30th. 1/

Abolish ICE is not enough. It's not about training -- Ross who killed Renee Good was a TRAINER. It's not about body cams -- we saw Alex Pretti killed with our own eyes. We have to abolish the idea that violence ever made us safer, before it's too late. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Abolishing ICE isn’t enough – it’s time to center people’s humanity | Heba Gowayed and Victor Ray

It’s far from radical to reject a system predicated on violence – despite what thinktanks might claim

theguardian.com

The quiet grief and shame enabled by our curated feeds. My feed talks to me about Yemen and I get angry when few of my friends and colleagues seem to know or care about what's happening. Then I "catch up" after the fact about outrages elsewhere, and I feel shame at what I didn't know. 1/n

Pizza deliveries - often sent from abroad - are being sent to the adult children of judges who rule against the Trump administration, *dozens* in the name of one who was murdered in 2020.

Judges who ruled against Trump say harassment and threats have changed their lives

More than 100 pizzas were delivered to the homes of judges and their families this year, some with signs of foreign involvement. Judges say the message is clear: We know where you live.

nbcnews.com

For those who are unaware, TPS is scheduled to expire in March for Yemenis who have had legal status in the US since 2015, though Yemen's conflict remains a risk to most, if not all. A decision on whether to extend it is expected in early January. Read more here: wcys.org/protect-yeme...

Protect Yemeni TPS Holders from Forced Return to War: A Letter to U.S. Congress - WCYS

Send a letter to your congressional officials to protect Yemeni TPS holders and stand for justice, humanity, and security.

wcys.org

Took my family to the RPO Holiday Pops concert at the Eastman School to officially close out the semester and kick off the break. Best part? When my youngest realized that Jeff Tyzik - yup, that one - is also known as “Mimi’s dog dad” from the dog park.

A small bit of good news.

Yemen’s Warring Sides Agree to Largest Prisoner Swap in a Decade of Fighting

nytimes.com

In proof that I have lived my life wrong, it's 2:50 a.m., I'm still trying to finish my fall term grading, and I just found a student's hallucinated footnote to a putative book of mine that I never wrote.

“My dog” has an Instagram account that follows (a) my HS daughter, (b) two clubs she runs, (c) the pet of one academic colleague, and (d) Zohran Mamdani. That’s it. This has given me an unintended glimpse at algorithmically driven college recruitment, and it’s pretty interesting, actually. I’d go.

Disturbing, and I can’t shake comparisons to @abuaarvark’s description of the role of similar digital polarization in amplifying support for Tamarod —> total military takeover in Egypt. Honestly, thinking about that makes this is one of the darker bits I’ve read today.

The Guardian@theguardian.com · 8mo ago

Small changes to ‘for you’ feed on X can rapidly increase political polarisation

If you're thinking of a Spring 2026 syllabus, consider @kaimthaler.bsky.social's "Why Rebels Win." He was gracious enough to let my students take a sneak peak this term and as I work my way through their papers, I can tell you that students will read this book and take it in some great directions.

Notably coinciding with the annual meeting of the Middle East Studies Association, happening right across town at the same time. And evidently drawing on the collective knowledge of its membership not a bit. This tracks entirely.

Reuters@reuters.com · 8mo ago

Trump begins process of labeling Muslim Brotherhood chapters as terrorist reut.rs/3JXpYV4

Our new round of billboards are up, with a clear message: a murder that the president orders is still a murder. NotWhatISignedUpFor.org can connect servicemembers with resources to help them understand their choices in the face of patently illegal orders.

Not What You Signed Up For?

Not What You Signed Up For? You saw the billboard. You have questions. You’re not alone. But first, here are proactive steps you can take to reduce risk: Be sure to access resources from a personal de...

notwhatisignedupfor.org

Task & Purpose@taskandpurpose.com · 9mo ago

Billboards outside US Southern Command urge troops not to ‘break the law’ in Caribbean strikes trib.al/6d2ADCI

I was annoyed when I read (too quickly, it seems) a @wsj.com article claiming that if Bamako falls to AQ, Mali would be the first country to be run by a US-designated terrorist group, since the same outlet has also written recently about FTO-designated Houthi rule in Sana'a. I've assigned both. 1/

books have no tech tree, no fog of war

If you’ve been focused on the Houthis and the situation in the North or the Red Sea, make sure you also read this editorial detailing the spiraling effects of conflict fragmentation in Yemen. The fallout from this editorial has also been significant for the writers. 1/

A Lawless Land: Government Factions Must Impose Order or Risk Losing Legitimacy - The Yemen Review, July-September 2025 - Sana'a Center For Strategic Studies

The assassination of Taiz official Iftehan al-Mashhari in broad daylight is the starkest example yet of how political violence and impunity have taken root in the territories under the control of the ...

sanaacenter.org

Too grim to bear. But as I read a stack of essays arguing that if we can just get things right in Gaza, it’ll be better next time, I’m indebted to those who are compiling the evidence that next time is now.

Megan O’Toole@meganotoole.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Satellite images show that most of the 260,000 civilians in Sudan’s el-Fasher are likely still trapped, as mass RSF killings continue

Tim Walz: "People are gonna be lined up out here to get food, and we're talking about a damn ballroom. Don't lose the plot."

What's also wild (derogatory) is that if many media outlets are making their journalists use AI to write & edit, or replacing journalists w/ AI to generate content, then you basically have social scientists' LLMs coding AI-generated material, w/o the chance to spot it as such the way a human might.

Always a good reminder... snyder.substack.com/p/twenty-les...

Twenty Lessons, read by John Lithgow

Key selections from On Tyranny, for viewing and sharing

snyder.substack.com

⚡️NEW from Drop Site News: “We may have survived physically, but we haven't survived mentally.” Five Gaza journalists reflect on the toll of the genocide as the ceasefire takes effect. www.dropsitenews.com/p/gaza-journ...

“We may have survived physically, but we haven't survived mentally.”

Five Gaza journalists reflect on the toll of the genocide as the ceasefire takes effect.

dropsitenews.com