Tom Clark
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tomsclark.bsky.social
Tom Clark
@tomsclark.bsky.social
1.2K followers 160 following 730 posts

Political scientist at Stanford University studying law, courts, policing, public safety. www.tomclarkphd.com Go birds.

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Economics 30%
Law 20%
Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by Tom Clark, Nathan P. Kalmoe

eustisbellusaf.bsky.social
Eustis Bell @eustisbellusaf.bsky.social · 9h
The Greenland fixation feels like a personal insult to anyone who's spent more than about five minutes thinking about national security. "Hey, let's demolish our most valuable alliance so we can get get access to arctic territory we already have access to!"

tomsclark.bsky.social
Tom Clark @tomsclark.bsky.social · 12h
“If this was about safety, you wouldn’t do stupid things like that.”

If this were about safety, very little of what the administration is doing would make sense. But it’s about creating a spectacle. Like all things Trump, it’s about a show, not substance.
wedge.live Wedge LIVE!™ @wedge.live · 15h
Mayor Frey describes incident where federal agents snatched someone out of their car on 3rd Ave: "They left the car in the middle of the street. The car wasn't even in park. So you've got this vehicle that's rolling down the street with nobody in it."

Reposted by Tom Clark, Mark Rice

wedge.live
Wedge LIVE!™ @wedge.live · 15h
Mayor Frey describes incident where federal agents snatched someone out of their car on 3rd Ave: "They left the car in the middle of the street. The car wasn't even in park. So you've got this vehicle that's rolling down the street with nobody in it."

tomsclark.bsky.social
Tom Clark @tomsclark.bsky.social · 16h
This is probably right.
schooley.bsky.social Schooley @schooley.bsky.social · 21h
If you had predicted with precise accuracy any of our current top stories this week during the ‘24 election, it would have been dismissed as Trump Derangement Syndrome by most of the professional takesmiths.

tomsclark.bsky.social
Tom Clark @tomsclark.bsky.social · 16h
I think that in a free democracy, we shouldn’t have secret police using the state’s power against civilians and then having the government lie to use about the details.
donmoyn.bsky.social Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 17h
This is the second time in three months a DHS agent called a US citizen a "bitch" as he shot her. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/whos-threa...
The video also allegedly shows the CBP agent saying “Do something, bitch” before shots were fired. In private Signal chats, the CBP agent boasted to other officers: “I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys.” If he felt comfortable enough communicating that to fellow employees, it speaks to an irredeemable organizational culture.

Reposted by Nandita Sharma, Will Jennings, Brendan Nyhan , and 12 more

donmoyn.bsky.social
Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 17h
This is the second time in three months a DHS agent called a US citizen a "bitch" as he shot her. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/whos-threa...
The video also allegedly shows the CBP agent saying “Do something, bitch” before shots were fired. In private Signal chats, the CBP agent boasted to other officers: “I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys.” If he felt comfortable enough communicating that to fellow employees, it speaks to an irredeemable organizational culture.

Reposted by Tom Clark, Smith, Scott A. Imberman , and 2 more

schooley.bsky.social
Schooley @schooley.bsky.social · 21h
If you had predicted with precise accuracy any of our current top stories this week during the ‘24 election, it would have been dismissed as Trump Derangement Syndrome by most of the professional takesmiths.

Reposted by Will Jennings, Brendan Nyhan, Tom Clark , and 1 more

drewharwell.com
Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 1d
So ICE and the White House have been scrambling to pump out meme videos of clashes with protesters and "epic takedowns" and then an ICE agent recording video with his phone shoots a woman dead www.washingtonpost.com/technology/i...
We read thousands of internal ICE chats. They show how officials make raids go viral
Thousands of internal ICE messages show how its public affairs team has coordinated with the White House to satisfy Trump administration demands for viral arrest videos
www.washingtonpost.com

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, Tom Clark, David R. Miller , and 1 more

carlquintanilla.bsky.social
Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 1d
ICYMI: WaPo, on why ICE always has phones in their hands: to feed the social media beast.

@drewharwell.com
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/i...

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, Tom Clark, Robert W. Wallace , and 2 more

davidcrespo.bsky.social
conputer dipshit @davidcrespo.bsky.social · 1d
ah. they all got the memo
xcancel.com/JDVance/stat...

Reposted by Tom Clark

guygrossman.bsky.social
Guy Grossman @guygrossman.bsky.social · 1d
Once again, they learned that when you do the bribing in the open, people don't think it's that wrong.

Reposted by Tom Clark, Guy Grossman

mattcollin.bsky.social
Matt Collin @mattcollin.bsky.social · 1d
We are truly in the dumbest timeline

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/09/w...
After Machado Offers Her Nobel, Trump Says It Would Be an ‘Honor’ to Accept It
www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Tom Clark

smmarotta.bsky.social
Sean Marotta @smmarotta.bsky.social · 1d
Something that always strikes me when I see the ICE/CBP paramilitary agents in full tactical gear is that when there are better-trained law enforcement with them, like FBI agents, they're just in jeans and windbreakers.

The contrast is something.

Reposted by Tom Clark

robertscotthorton.bsky.social
Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 1d
Bill Bramhall, New York Daily News

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, Ken Caldeira, Tom Clark , and 13 more

ronfilipkowski.bsky.social
Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 1d
I think it is probably a bad idea to put clearly unhinged, angry psychopaths in federal law enforcement positions.

tomsclark.bsky.social
Tom Clark @tomsclark.bsky.social · 2d
Pretty upsetting to see the vice president argue that the government can send masked agents out and allow them to shoot Americans and have “absolute immunity”. (Also, they don’t, to the extent we’re following the law.)

Reposted by Tom Clark, Rosemary A. Joyce, David R. Miller , and 2 more

larryglickman.bsky.social
Larry Glickman @larryglickman.bsky.social · 2d
Isn't there a word for a leader who thinks there are no meaningful legal constraints on his or her power and that "My own morality. My own mind" is "the only thing that can stop me"?
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/u...
Trump Lays Out a Vision of Power Restrained Only by ‘My Own Morality’
www.nytimes.com

tomsclark.bsky.social
Tom Clark @tomsclark.bsky.social · 2d
My fear is that this is why Trump invaded Venezuela and is now channeling their oil money into offshore accounts (non-Treasury) that he ostensibly controls.

Consider a world where one person can unilaterally use the US military to raid another country and use the proceeds without any oversight.
chrislhayes.bsky.social Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 2d
America First (TM) means paying 30,000 Danish citizens $100,000 bonuses EACH while Americans can’t afford health insurance.
chrislhayes.bsky.social Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 2d
Wait wait wait, while Americans have to pay hundreds of billions of dollars in new tariffs, Trump is going send over $10,000 to each person in *Greenland*?????????

This is a joke right ?

www.reuters.com/world/europe...

Reposted by Tom Clark

chrislhayes.bsky.social
Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 2d
America First (TM) means paying 30,000 Danish citizens $100,000 bonuses EACH while Americans can’t afford health insurance.

Reposted by Michael E. Mann, Tom Clark, Steve Peers , and 9 more

anthonymkreis.bsky.social
Anthony Michael Kreis @anthonymkreis.bsky.social · 2d
This is not the law.

tomsclark.bsky.social
Tom Clark @tomsclark.bsky.social · 2d
There's lots of room for disagreement in politics, but we've known since Trump's first administration that he'll say whatever he wants, the facts be damned. In the far more Orwellian second administration, we really do find ourselves in these kinds of 1984 situations more often.
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d
Walz: "I couldn't help but think, and it scares me a bit -- 'The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most important directive.' It certainly feels like that in this moment."

Reposted by Robert West, Brendan Nyhan, Tom Clark , and 13 more

atrupar.com
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d
Walz: "I couldn't help but think, and it scares me a bit -- 'The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most important directive.' It certainly feels like that in this moment."

Reposted by Tom Clark

johnpfaff.bsky.social
John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 2d
Secretary of DHS openly lying.

Here's something from the website of the FBI. You know, the people she's lying about having exclusive jurisdiction. Saying that they do not "take over" investigations.
If a crime is committed that is a violation of local, state, and federal laws, does the FBI “take over” the investigation? No. State and local law enforcement agencies are not subordinate to the FBI, and the FBI does not supervise or take over their investigations. Instead, the investigative resources of the FBI and state and local agencies are often pooled in a common effort to investigate and solve the cases. In fact, many task forces composed of FBI agents and state and local officers have been formed to locate fugitives and to address serious threats like terrorism and street violence.

Reposted by Lisa W. Fazio, Jan W. Mueller, Matthew Bunn , and 38 more

birchlse.bsky.social
Jonathan Birch @birchlse.bsky.social · 2d
Martin Peterson's creative response to being banned from teaching Plato (shared with his permission).
An email from Martin Peterson to university administrators.

Reposted by Tom Clark

volberg.bsky.social
Sven-Erik Volberg @volberg.bsky.social · 3d
ICE++ the CBP, and judging from the patches — BORTAC.

BORTAC is a counterterrorism tactical unit of CBP.

Just shooting people

tomsclark.bsky.social
Tom Clark @tomsclark.bsky.social · 3d
This is not to say that no cops have bad morality or enjoy using force. But, they’re atypical. And most police shootings involve truly dangerous situations that I wouldn’t want to deal with.

tomsclark.bsky.social
Tom Clark @tomsclark.bsky.social · 3d
I spent the last 6 years studying police shootings. My general impression was that cops involved in them are typically upset, sad, shaken. The callousness we see from the Administration when its agents use violence chills me to the core. They’re caricatures of the worst ideas people have about cops.
maxgranger.info Max Granger @maxgranger.info · 3d
Driver: “Criminals doing Uber? Maybe criminals are doing ICE, how about that, you know what I’m saying? Y’all shoot enough people… You shot her in the head! For what?!”

Agent, heckling: “I don’t know why they do the head, man” [Bovino and other agents laugh].

Reposted by Tom Clark, Aurélien Mondon, Nathan P. Kalmoe

maxgranger.info
Max Granger @maxgranger.info · 3d
Driver: “Criminals doing Uber? Maybe criminals are doing ICE, how about that, you know what I’m saying? Y’all shoot enough people… You shot her in the head! For what?!”

Agent, heckling: “I don’t know why they do the head, man” [Bovino and other agents laugh].

tomsclark.bsky.social
Tom Clark @tomsclark.bsky.social · 3d
To me, there are few things that capture how not-serious but seriously dangerous the administration is as their effort to cosplay last weekend. Like all things Trump, it’s a facade for show, with no substance. But their facade is causing real, irreparable harm to the world.
donmoyn.bsky.social Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 4d
New, from me: The Trump administration isn’t just using social media to shape a narrative. They view the world through a social media lens in a way that is plausibly corrupting their judgment and undermining their performance.
Welcome to the clicktatorship. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/life-under...
Life Under a Clicktatorship
What happens to government when everything is content?
donmoynihan.substack.com

tomsclark.bsky.social
Tom Clark @tomsclark.bsky.social · 3d
It does seem like we’d be better off if we could set aside normal debates about government spending and focus on the very dangerous things the current government is doing. Then, there might be space for a return to the normal, healthy policy debates we used to have.
vermontgmg.bsky.social Garrett M. Graff @vermontgmg.bsky.social · 3d
Democrats need to understand that they can just say “It’s insane to threaten Greenland” and “I don’t think ICE should murder Americans in the street” and you don’t need to pretend to link it to the affordability crisis.

Say bad things are bad.