Cullen Hendrix
banner
cullenhendrix.bsky.social
Cullen Hendrix
@cullenhendrix.bsky.social

Senior Fellow at Peterson Institute. Sustainability, security, and political economy. Heart masquerading as head since 1977.

You may not believe in climate change, but your insurance company does.

Political science 30%
Sociology 23%
Pinned
#Hunger is rising while advanced economies — especially the US — pull back on humanitarian and agricultural aid. A new #EU policy on gene-edited crops could help strengthen global food security, especially in developing countries.

My latest for @piie.com.
Europe's new biotech rules could buttress global food security
The European Union recently agreed to ease restrictions on new genomic techniques (NGTs) for food, in the most significant change to Europe’s stringent regulatory approach to crop biotechnology in two...
www.piie.com

I'd like to think respectability politics would be superseded by a dead mother, but evidently I am quite naive.
TAPPER: Does your rhetoric need to change?

FREY: I said this was a federal agent recklessly using power that ended up in somebody dying because that was a federal agent recklessly using power that ended up in somebody dying. I got two eyes.
TAPPER: Does your rhetoric need to change?

FREY: I said this was a federal agent recklessly using power that ended up in somebody dying because that was a federal agent recklessly using power that ended up in somebody dying. I got two eyes.
Renee Good should still be here.

She was a beloved child of God, with inherent value and infinite worth.

She was murdered by her own government in broad daylight in what is supposed to be the greatest democracy on the planet.
I want to highlight this important story by my friends @nbcnews.com - www.nbcnews.com/tech/interne... "The Internet Watch Foundation said it found topless images of girls that dark web forum users attributed to xAI’s Grok Imagine." <-- the AI generated CSAM / NCII immediately escapes containment
Dark web users cite Grok as tool for making 'criminal imagery' of kids, U.K. watchdog says
The Internet Watch Foundation said it found topless images of girls that dark web forum users attributed to xAI’s Grok Imagine.
www.nbcnews.com

Reposted by Cullen S. Hendrix

Europe’s recent modification of its restrictions on genetically engineered crops is a step towards freeing poorer countries to make their own science-based choices & accelerate crop innovation where it is most needed. @cullenhendrix.bsky.social explains:
Europe's new biotech rules could buttress global food security
The European Union recently agreed to ease restrictions on new genomic techniques (NGTs) for food, in the most significant change to Europe’s stringent regulatory approach to crop biotechnology in two...
www.piie.com
“'The guy, I’m telling him like, "Please step off the school grounds," and this dude comes up and bumps into me and then tells me that I pushed him, and he knocked me down,' an official at Roosevelt High School said. 'They don’t care. They’re just animals. I’ve never seen people behave like this.'"
Minneapolis schools cancel classes after Border Patrol clash disrupts dismissal at Roosevelt
Minneapolis schools closed for the week citing safety concerns after an encounter involving armed Border Patrol agents near Roosevelt High School.
www.mprnews.org

The video is worth watching if you can stomach it - to see what is being done with your money and in your name.

Reposted by Cullen S. Hendrix

After border patrol agents fatally shot a woman in Minneapolis, agents showed up to a high school and released chemical weapons during dismissal, Minnesota Public Radio reports. Their live reporting here: www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
Live updates: Minneapolis confirms name of woman shot by ICE agent
Renee Good, 37, was identified as the woman shot and killed Wednesday morning by an ICE agent in south Minneapolis. ICE said Good was shot while trying to run over agents with her car. Mayor Jacob Fre...
www.mprnews.org

Reposted by Cullen S. Hendrix

The EU easing restrictions on new genomic techniques for food is an important break from the precautionary reflex that has long shaped EU policy & may also have large, positive effects for low- & mid-income countries dealing with rising food insecurity. By @cullenhendrix.bsky.social:
Europe's new biotech rules could buttress global food security
The European Union recently agreed to ease restrictions on new genomic techniques (NGTs) for food, in the most significant change to Europe’s stringent regulatory approach to crop biotechnology in two...
www.piie.com

First off, can't believe I'm actually interacting with the author of "How the World Works" - I read you for the first time in college and had my mind blown.

My position is just that internal critiques of the security logic will be inadequate because the premise is one of convenience to begin with.

Attempting to refute the administration's Greenland ambitions by pointing this out is accepting the premise - one I don't think is worth granting.
Absolutely true, and somehow not-discussed point:

The US **ALREADY** has all the strategic advantages it could gain by "owning" Greenland. Through treaties and (until now) close NATO cooperation w Denmark

The US has a naval base & 'space force' base there. You see USAF planes at Grndlnd airports
The thing that’s so dumb about this is that there’s nothing legitimate about the strategic importance of Greenland that the US doesn’t get through existing alliances. Denmark isn’t impeding US strategic interests. It’s about them wanting to increase US land area by 20%.

Reposted by David Darmofal

Religious people usually use "we" when talking about religious people.
Trump: "I like religious people. It usually means they're more honest. Sometimes it doesn't happen that way. I've had some real religious ones that did numbers on me and I said, 'I'm gonna get them someday.' They got me by surprise. But it's usually good. His name is Mike Johnson."

Reposted by Cullen S. Hendrix

Trump: "I like religious people. It usually means they're more honest. Sometimes it doesn't happen that way. I've had some real religious ones that did numbers on me and I said, 'I'm gonna get them someday.' They got me by surprise. But it's usually good. His name is Mike Johnson."

Reposted by Cullen S. Hendrix

Absolutely true, and somehow not-discussed point:

The US **ALREADY** has all the strategic advantages it could gain by "owning" Greenland. Through treaties and (until now) close NATO cooperation w Denmark

The US has a naval base & 'space force' base there. You see USAF planes at Grndlnd airports
The thing that’s so dumb about this is that there’s nothing legitimate about the strategic importance of Greenland that the US doesn’t get through existing alliances. Denmark isn’t impeding US strategic interests. It’s about them wanting to increase US land area by 20%.
Joint European statement on Greenland. They moved quickly after Miller’s comments about annexation last night.

If the non- response to the Iran strike didn't convince you, this might. It's a whole new ballgame with diversified supply and the rapid rise of renewables.
Country 9 in global oil reserves has invaded country 1 and arrested its president. Country 7 is under sanctions and its refineries are being destroyed. Country 2 is facing off with country 6. And there are riots in country 3. But oil is only $60/bbl. Maybe oil is not as critical as it used to be?
Country 9 in global oil reserves has invaded country 1 and arrested its president. Country 7 is under sanctions and its refineries are being destroyed. Country 2 is facing off with country 6. And there are riots in country 3. But oil is only $60/bbl. Maybe oil is not as critical as it used to be?
an annoying thing about realists insisting they're the no-nonsense reality-based group is that few of their predictions have been based in reality

Ever is a long time. The Great Depression, the Black Death, the little Ice Age ... and that's all just in the last 1500 years or so ...

I don't know what definition of "great again" this could be consistent with.
Born deaf and blind, she's caught in Trump's anti-diversity crusade:

A program for deafblind children helped 3-year-old Annie Garner, born with poor vision and no ears, learn to communicate. The Trump admin cut the program's funding over diversity goals.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/15/u...
Born Deaf and Blind, She’s Caught in Trump’s Anti-Diversity Crusade
www.nytimes.com

That's jaw dropping. Is it available for purchase?!

I realize this guy is not a sympathetic character, but think about what this guy is putting himself through to conform to beauty standards. Women do the equivalent in droves.

Deeper issue is why performative masculinity makes this seem worth it at this point in time.
Nowhere near the main point here, but ... presumably he had to get "leg extensions" (?!?) etc. precisely because it *isn't* in his DNA to "obtain Gigachad" (?!?!?!?!)
Decades of the white nationalist movement evolving to adapt to current political trends has brought them to this moment.

Reposted by Cullen S. Hendrix

Nowhere near the main point here, but ... presumably he had to get "leg extensions" (?!?) etc. precisely because it *isn't* in his DNA to "obtain Gigachad" (?!?!?!?!)
Decades of the white nationalist movement evolving to adapt to current political trends has brought them to this moment.

Doesn't that go for the truth as well?

We spent most of human history not believing much we didn't see with our own eyes. We may be headed back that direction.

Reposted by Cullen S. Hendrix

Born deaf and blind, she's caught in Trump's anti-diversity crusade:

A program for deafblind children helped 3-year-old Annie Garner, born with poor vision and no ears, learn to communicate. The Trump admin cut the program's funding over diversity goals.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/15/u...
Born Deaf and Blind, She’s Caught in Trump’s Anti-Diversity Crusade
www.nytimes.com

Cool story actually but yes I see what you did there.
People have no idea what a premium we have enjoyed and what losing it will cost us
This piece is a great illustration of how the long-term effect of Trump’s destruction of US institutions won’t be felt in a dramatic market collapse, but rather in permanently worse economic conditions, and lower prosperity.

giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... So long, American exceptionalism
So long, American exceptionalism
For the first time, investors are talking about ‘US risk’
giftarticle.ft.com

Calm down: they're probably just talking about Trump.
This is profoundly un-American.

No—that's not right.

It's *anti*-American.

It's hatred of the United States and its founding documents and all its people and all its traditions.

The person who wrote and approved this is a weirdo who detests everything that America stands for.
This is profoundly un-American.

No—that's not right.

It's *anti*-American.

It's hatred of the United States and its founding documents and all its people and all its traditions.

The person who wrote and approved this is a weirdo who detests everything that America stands for.