Victor Shammas
@victorshammas.com
2.3K followers 1.3K following 1.3K posts
Oslo, Norway-based Associate Professor of Sociology with a global perspective. Research: victorshammas.com. Newsletter on politics, culture, and social theory: theorybrief.com.
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victorshammas.com
‘Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said at the time that he would not commit to the 5% target, calling it "incompatible with our welfare state and our world vision."’
victorshammas.com
Pritzker: "Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power. What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?"
www.reuters.com
victorshammas.com
“Australia’s second most populous state of Victoria is planning another groundbreaking move: a law giving workers in both the private and public sectors the right to work from home for at least two days a week.”
What if working from home was a legal right?
An Australian state is planning a new hybrid work law despite an angry business outcry
on.ft.com
victorshammas.com
A Trump appointee, U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut, has ordered a temporary restraining order against the Trump administration’s deployment of the National Guard to Portland. “The president’s determination was simply untethered to the facts,” the judge wrote.
Trump Blocked for Now From Sending Troops Into Portland
A federal judge temporarily blocked President Donald Trump from sending military forces to Portland, Oregon, to quell protests against his immigration crackdown, even as 300 National Guard troops were...
www.bloomberg.com
victorshammas.com
A lawsuit claims that the U.S. Parole Commission no longer exists. ‘“Until we get this settled, they might not want to be issuing arrest warrants left and right,” Reyes told the attorney representing the commission.’
U.S. parole board can’t jail people because it doesn’t legally exist, suit says
Public defenders argue the U.S. Parole Commission should stop operating and release D.C. residents it recently jailed because Congress did not renew the agency’s authority.
wapo.st
victorshammas.com
“Humanity is pushing beyond the limits of a safe operating space, increasing the risk of destabilizing the planet.” - Johan Rockström, director, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)
Humans Just Pushed Earth across Another 'Planetary Boundary'
Earth has breached a critical boundary for ocean acidification, with potentially grim effects for ocean ecosystems and human livelihoods
www.scientificamerican.com
victorshammas.com
“Federal criminal defendants arguing vindictive prosecution rarely succeed.

Yet if Abrego Garcia does gather the evidence to convince the judge to toss his case, it would bring an embarrassing end to the Maryland man’s saga during the Trump administration’s aggressive…immigration deportations.”
Kilmar Abrego Garcia may have been charged because of Trump administration’s vindictiveness, judge finds | CNN Politics
A federal judge says he believes the immigrant defendant Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whom the administration wrongly sent to El Salvador, may have been targeted with a criminal charge by the Justice Departm...
www.cnn.com
victorshammas.com
“[O]ver the dissent of the court’s three liberals, a majority of the justices ruled that the administration could move forward with its plans to end a form of humanitarian relief known as Temporary Protected Status – a move that stands to make more people vulnerable to deportation.”
Supreme Court lets Trump end deportation protections for 300,000 Venezuelans | CNN Politics
The Supreme Court on Friday for a second time allowed President Donald Trump to strip temporary deportation protections from 300,000 Venezuelans.
www.cnn.com
victorshammas.com
“Armed federal agents in military fatigues busted down their doors overnight, pulling men, women and children from their apartments … The raid is one of the largest operations executed since President Donald Trump’s administration announced the launch of ‘Operation Midway Blitz’ on Sept. 8.”
Massive immigration raid on Chicago apartment building leaves residents reeling: 'I feel defeated'
The Department of Homeland Security said federal agents with Border Patrol, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested 37 people in the raid.
chicago.suntimes.com
victorshammas.com
Great paper by Renagh O’Leary, “Ideological Testing” (N.C. L. Rev., 2025) — argues that U.S. courts & corrections interrogate defendants’ politics ("Do you think the criminal justice system is fair?") and treat criticism as risk or lack of remorse, not considering whether the system might be wrong.
scholarship.law.unc.edu
victorshammas.com
‘[T]he Trump administration is “attacking” immigration courts “on all fronts” in order to eliminate them entirely by proving they’re “dysfunctional”. There’s a backlog of 3.6m cases waiting to be adjudicated, and Marks believes the courts have been purposefully starved of resources.’
‘Like the Gestapo’: trailblazing immigration judge on Ice brutality and Trump’s damage to the courts
Dana Leigh Marks had a long and notable tenure on the bench. Now she’s watching the Trump administration trash her institution – and raising the alarm
www.theguardian.com
victorshammas.com
“The dominant academic philosophy in anglophone universities since World War II has thus increasingly stepped back from…direct involvement in political and social issues. But it has done so in such a way that it implicitly constructs postwar liberal ideology as the common sense.”
Analytic Philosophy Is a Dead End for the Left
Analytic philosophy has become the dominant school in anglophone philosophy departments since 1945. Christoph Schuringa persuasively argues that it has served to reinforce a liberal common sense that ...
jacobin.com
victorshammas.com
“Sun’s excitement was understandable. For years he hadn’t set foot in the US amid federal investigations … . Now, after buying more than $90 million worth of two of the Trump family’s cryptocurrencies, he was returning as the president’s guest and business associate.”
A Crypto Billionaire’s Path From Pariah to Trump Moneyman
Justin Sun was facing an SEC fraud case, but $90 million of Trump coins later, he’s doing business with the president’s family.
www.bloomberg.com
victorshammas.com
Starmer is playing right into Reform’s hands—instead of insisting on a progressive (re-)framing of politics and society. Starmer seems to think that by pivoting to the right, he can stem the rise of Reform, but I suspect this will only deepen their support by reinforcing their preferred framing.
New digital ID will be mandatory to work in the UK
PM says the scheme will make it harder to work illegally but opposition parties argue it won't stop small boat crossings.
www.bbc.com