In recent weeks, Trump has: • Kidnapped the leader of a sovereign country • Threatened to invade Greenland • Emboldened ICE to kill US citizens in Minneapolis But the Tina Peters case is, for now, one of the few examples of the limits of Trump's power www.wired.com/story/donald...
Donald Trump Wants to Force Colorado to Free an Imprisoned Election Denier. It’s Not Working
Former election clerk Tina Peters is a hero to conspiracy theorists, and even received an empty “pardon” from the president. Colorado's governor has held firm against commuting her sentence—so far.
wired.com
Happy this is out in the world. We collect 8 great essays/ commentaries by some of the best young, and a few more seasoned anthropologists working on Africa-China dynamics.
Critical Asian Studies@criticasianstds.bsky.social · 9mo agoNotes from the Field | Jason Woerner, Ralph Litzinger, and Charlie Piot introduce a Special Series of seven essays collected under the theme of "New Directions in Africa-China Studies" and drawing together early career scholars: criticalasianstudies.org/commentary/2...
Notes from the Field | Jason Woerner, Ralph Litzinger, and Charlie Piot introduce a Special Series of seven essays collected under the theme of "New Directions in Africa-China Studies" and drawing together early career scholars: criticalasianstudies.org/commentary/2...
Special Series: “New Directions in Africa-China Studies” | Jason Woerner, Ralph Litzinger, Charlie Piot, “Introduction: New Directions in Africa-China Studies” — Critical Asian Studies
The impetus to publish these essays in Critical Asian Studies emerged from a workshop at Duke University (US) in February 2025, entitled “New Directions in China-Africa Studies.” The workshop aimed ...
criticalasianstudies.org
Celebrity chefs told Californians that PFAS-coated pans were “safe,” and successfully lobbied Gavin Newsom to veto a bill phasing them out They didn’t mention they all sell PFAS-coated pans. New joint investigation with @mirandagreen.bsky.social and @atmosmag.bsky.social is out:
Why are famous chefs fighting PFAS bans?
The answer, in retrospect, is obvious—and it’s part of a larger campaign to stop bans on Teflon cookware nationwide.
heated.world
Dear colleagues- please join us in Kunshan, for our Green Transitions conference. Share widely with friends and students. sites.duke.edu/efan/call-fo...
Call for Papers: “Green Transitions”—The Kunshan Workshop – Environmental Futures in Asia Network
sites.duke.edu
Vietnam’s Year of Floods, Mud and Death www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/w...
Vietnam’s Year of Floods, Mud and Death
nytimes.com
I think we knew this but it is interesting how Trump’s reign of terror, and the genocide in Gaza, has disappeared much of the critical work on surveillance. This is thus a welcome report, especialky as tech execs kiss rhe ring and sing Trump’s praises. apnews.com/article/chin...
US tech companies enabled the surveillance and detention of hundreds of thousands in China
U.S. technology firms such as IBM, Dell and Cisco largely designed and built China’s surveillance state, an AP investigation finds. The tech companies deny wrongdoing.
apnews.com
If I lived in Taiwan, and for all my friends with deep ties to Taiwan, I would be very worried. As for Ukraine, this had all been a gift from Trump. Xi’s Parade to Showcase China’s Military Might and Circle of Autocrats www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/w...
Xi’s Parade to Showcase China’s Military Might and Circle of Autocrats
nytimes.com
Arundhati Roy on How to Survive in a ‘Culture of Fear’ www.nytimes.com/2025/08/30/m...
Arundhati Roy on How to Survive in a ‘Culture of Fear’
nytimes.com
The discussion concludes with an analysis of techno-authoritarianism, highlighting Silicon Valley's historical hostility to democracy and its prioritization of technologies that advance surveillance and social control. millennialsarekillingcapitalism.libsyn.com/the-obscuran...
Millennials Are Killing Capitalism: The Obscurant Function of 'Artificial Intelligence' with Edward Ongweso Jr
In this episode, we speak with Edward Ongweso Jr about "artificial intelligence" and its implications, particularly concerning corporate interests and historical parallels with labor control. Edward c...
millennialsarekillingcapitalism.libsyn.com
Numbers to cite for calling NC representatives about N.I.H. policy changes (on top of everything else)- this is the impact on jobs and funding in North Carolina. I hope every colleague at Duke, UNC, & all NC Higher Ed who can, will get calling. I am beyond furious. @gregpak.net helpful script below
Greg Pak@gregpak.net · 2y agoI put this into a post. Please feel free to share. Call your R reps and tell them "I DIDN'T VOTE FOR CANCER!" - and demand they restore funding to the N.I.H. now. 202-224-3121 gregpak.net/2025/02/08/c...
As someone who has reported on AI for 7 years and covered China tech as well, I think the biggest lesson to be drawn from DeepSeek is the huge cracks it illustrates with the current dominant paradigm of AI development. A long thread. 1/
Just terrifying that this totally inexperienced and capricious opportunist, in thrall to a mash up of extremist ideologies, the most coherent of which is savage misogyny, is about to be one skipped beat of an obese elderly man’s heart away from the presidency.
Yashar Ali 🐘@yasharali.bsky.social · 2y agoFrom Hillbilly Elegy to the White House. It’s wild when you think about it. And while many Democrats were skeptical of his book (some weren’t), I don’t think anyone would have predicted this back in 2016.
The Island Where Environmentalism Implodes - on the search for nickel (think Tesla or your EV) and New Caledonia. www.newyorker.com/news/the-wee...
The Island Where Environmentalism Implodes
New Caledonia is home to thousands of species found nowhere else—and to nickel that companies like Tesla desperately need.
newyorker.com
On 4B- more of a feeling than a movement? Good overview and analysis by E. Tammy Kim.
“The Gospel” and Militarized AI. youtu.be/xGqYbXL3kZc
How AI tells Israel who to bomb
YouTube video by Vox
youtu.be
Silicon Valley’s Militarism has its roots in the Cold War. It’s resurfacing under Trump. Trump’s Election Is Also a Win for Tech’s Right-Wing “Warrior Class”-
Humanity Surprised It Still Hasn’t Figured Out Better Alternative To Letting Power-Hungry Assholes Decide Everything - The Onion
When is the paperback due out?
Stanford University Press@stanfordpress.bsky.social · 2y agoWhile most investigations of Chinese workers focus on migrant labor, Chinese Workers of the World by Selda Altan explores Chinese labor under colonial regimes within China through an examination of the Yunnan-Indochina Railway, constructed between 1898–1910 www.sup.org/books/title/...
Our waiting issue is finally here. “Get in Line” features stories on the inevitable and the long-overdue: doomsdays and digital utopias, health care and political unity. They say patience is a virtue, but we’re on borrowed time. Start reading now.
no. 76—Get in Line
CHOOSE YOUR PRECIPICE. The grist that makes modern life will run out at some point—when will we tap the last barrel of crude, blow through the remaining stocks of helium, deplete those rare metals…
thebaffler.com
"When universities like Harvard shifted their definition of ability, large segments of society adjusted to meet that definition," David Brooks writes, The effect was transformative: www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
How the Ivy League Broke America
The meritocracy isn’t working. We need something new.
theatlantic.com