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John Schwartz @jswatz.bsky.social · 1d

“Any university leader who signs on to this compact would betray everything good and solid about the university and would do deep and permanent harm to the United States and the world,” writes @sivav.bsky.social in this brilliantly belittling essay. newrepublic.com/article/2013...

Why This Essay Could Cause the University of Virginia to Shut Down

How Linda McMahon’s latest “compact” would do deep and permanent harm to American higher education

newrepublic.com

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Reposted by Erin A. Snider

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 1d

crazy that one of the most storied institutions in american journalism is going to be run by two people with basically no experience to do it

Exclusive | CBS News taps Adam Rubenstein — once ostracized at NY Times for liking Chick-fil-A — as new deputy editor

Sources expect Rubenstein will effectively run the Free Press now that Weiss will be busy steering the editorial direction of shows like “60 Minutes,” “Face The Nation” and …

nypost.com

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Erin A. Snider @erinsnider.bsky.social · 1d

The UN’s Syria envoy Geir Pedersen:

"Syria is on a “knife-edge” and needs a “course correction” as sectarian clashes and the slow pace of reform undermine the fragile transition following the Assad regime’s collapse...In a worst-case scenario, Syria could “turn into Libya”, he said."

Syria on ‘knife-edge’ in wake of sectarian clashes, warns UN envoy

Slow place of reform adds to pressure on Ahmed al-Sharaa’s fragile new government

on.ft.com

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Erin A. Snider @erinsnider.bsky.social · 3d

Reading Nada Bakri on Lebanon while in Egypt, it’s impossible not to see elements of the same story here too.

Erin A. Snider @erinsnider.bsky.social · 3d

“Two countries are living on top of each other, one buffered by generators, drivers and imported everything, the other left to negotiate survival in the margins. What’s most unsettling isn’t how shocking it feels, but how routine it is. Just like we speed through intersections without looking.”

Opinion | The Chaos of Driving in Lebanon Tells a Story of a Country Unraveled

www.nytimes.com

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Erin A. Snider @erinsnider.bsky.social · 3d

“Two countries are living on top of each other, one buffered by generators, drivers and imported everything, the other left to negotiate survival in the margins. What’s most unsettling isn’t how shocking it feels, but how routine it is. Just like we speed through intersections without looking.”

Opinion | The Chaos of Driving in Lebanon Tells a Story of a Country Unraveled

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Erin A. Snider

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 4d

the usual story. rich guy wants to punish universities for not clamping down on pro-palestinian protests and for doing too much to recruit minorities. at base these guys want the top tier of american universities to become, once more, safe-spaces for their dunderheaded failsons

The Billionaire Behind Trump’s Deal for Universities

www.nytimes.com

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Hafsa Halawa @hafsahalawa.bsky.social · 4d

Hamas’ statement is not acceptance of the new Trump plan. It’s an agreement to end the war & reach terms of agreement “upon further negotiations”. The momentum created by the Trump/Arab States meeting in NY has largely dissipated through Netanyahu’s efforts. I don’t think we’re going to get a deal.

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Erin A. Snider @erinsnider.bsky.social · 4d

“ In a statement, Hamas announced its agreement to release all Israeli prisoners, both living and dead, according to the exchange formula contained in President Trump’s proposal, provided the field conditions for the exchange are met.”

wapo.st/4nHM0tC

Hamas accepts Trump’s plan to end Israel’s war in Gaza but with conditions

The plan aims to secure the release of Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip and end a two-year conflict that has reduced much of the enclave to rubble.

wapo.st

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Ida Bae Wells @nhannahjones.bsky.social · 5d

In case it wasn’t clear, the anti-DEI crusade has never been about merit. Zero news experience. Never been a reporter. Elevated to Editor in Chief of CBS News, one of the most storied news institutions in the nation. www.mediaite.com/media/news/p...

Paramount Officially Acquiring The Free Press and Making Bari Weiss CBS News Editor in Chief: Report

Paramount Skydance will be officially acquiring The Free Press and hiring its founder Bari Weiss as editor in chief of its CBS News division, with the deal to be announced this coming Monday, accordin...

www.mediaite.com

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Erin A. Snider @erinsnider.bsky.social · 6d

"Those taking part in the so-called "Gen Z protests" decry what they see as widespread corruption.Through chants and posters, they have contrasted the flow of billions in investment toward preparation for the 2030 World Cup, while many schools & hospitals lack funds & remain in a dire state"
menasky

Anti-government protests in Morocco turn deadly, with 2 killed in a small town

Youth-led anti-government demonstrators in Morocco filled the streets for a fifth straight night on Wednesday, as protests over the state of public services descended into deadly violence.

www.npr.org

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Erin A. Snider @erinsnider.bsky.social · 6d

"The protests, which began Saturday with demands for better education and healthcare, have been organized online by a loosely formed, anonymous youth group calling itself “GenZ 212.” The group has used platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and the gaming app Discord to mobilize support"

menasky

Morocco youth protests spread and turn deadly, two killed

Two people were killed and others injured in Lqliaa, near Agadir, when security forces used firearms to prevent a group of individuals from stealing their weapons on Wednesday night, local authorities said, in an incident that marks a deadly turn in anti-government protests that initially rallied for social justice reforms.

www.reuters.com

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Reposted by Erin A. Snider

Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 6d

Take the good news seriously too

Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.bsky.social · 9d

An incredibly important election in a tiny country just went the right way. Moldova has resisted a huge Russian disinformation campaign and will not become a Russian puppet state.

Olga Nesterova @onestpress.onestnetwork.com · 9d

Moldova 🇲🇩 👍

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Dan Nexon @dhnexon.bsky.social · 7d

The administration has two main impulses: kleptocracy and reactionary ideology. The kleptocrats just want to squeeze as much money as possible out of the government. The reactionaries are utopians who think that if they roll back the enlightenment then power and prosperity will magically happen.

Dan Nexon @dhnexon.bsky.social · 7d

Trumpland is full of idiots who believe that economic & military capabilities fall from coconut trees. They're ignorant & arrogant people who obsess over branding & aesthetics. They think they're about hard power & machtpolitik, but they're actually doing the dumbest possible version of soft power.

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 7d

this guy has no idea what the american military is (the most sophisticated logistics operation ever assembled in human history)

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Reposted by Erin A. Snider

elia ayoub 🌱 @ayoub.bsky.social · 7d

Israeli Defense Minister Katz: "Those who remain in Gaza City will be terrorists and terror supporters."

In other words, Israel declares its intention to exterminate everyone in Gaza City who could not move south.

That is what calling everyone 'terrorists and terror supporters' means.

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Noam Ross @noamross.net · 7d

The Damage Done: @marianneguenot.bsky.social tells the story of clinical trials derailed by the administration's reckless science policy, across kidney disease, HIV, Alzheimer's disease, and cancer. Years of work and money thrown away, at times just short of a cure.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The damage done - Nature Medicine

When clinical trials are suddenly halted by US funding cuts, there are repercussions for investigators and patients, and they do not stop at borders.

www.nature.com

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Erin A. Snider @erinsnider.bsky.social · 7d

"Olga Cherevko, a spokeswoman for the United Nations’ humanitarian office who is working in a designated humanitarian zone, said there were “hundreds of people just sitting on the side of the road looking shellshocked, without anything.”

Erin A. Snider @erinsnider.bsky.social · 7d

“Is there food & water in al-Mawasi? Yes,” Ms Ingram, the UNICEF spokeswoman said, referring to one of the designated humanitarian zones in the south. “Is it sufficient for the people who are currently here? No. Will it be sufficient if 100s of thousands of more people come? Definitely not.”

Gaza City Exodus Is Overwhelming Relief Efforts, Aid Agencies Say

www.nytimes.com

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Erin A. Snider @erinsnider.bsky.social · 7d

“Is there food & water in al-Mawasi? Yes,” Ms Ingram, the UNICEF spokeswoman said, referring to one of the designated humanitarian zones in the south. “Is it sufficient for the people who are currently here? No. Will it be sufficient if 100s of thousands of more people come? Definitely not.”

Gaza City Exodus Is Overwhelming Relief Efforts, Aid Agencies Say

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Erin A. Snider

Florian Hollenbach @fhollenbach.org · 7d

Are you interested in research on corruption/illicit finance/kleptocracy? We are hiring a Research Fellow at @acdatacollective.bsky.social: acdatacollective.org/wp-content/u...
Please share in your networks, this could be a great gig.

acdatacollective.org

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Bearded Stoner @beardedstoner.bsky.social · 8d

Everyday somebody in this administration gets up and does something we haven't seen in government since Dr. Strangelove.

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 8d

this is, no exaggeration, some of the most loser shit i have ever seen in my life

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 8d

Hegseth: "As history teaches us, the only people who actually deserve peace and those who are willing to wage war to defend it. That's why pacifism is so naive and dangerous."

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Erin A. Snider @erinsnider.bsky.social · 7d

Couldn't agree more.

“After everything he’s done, all the death and destruction this guy was responsible for, the blood on his hands — he’s now going to come in and save the Palestinians? This is a disgusting parody,” said Amjad Salehi, a Palestinian Iraqi living in Baghdad.

‘Lost the plot’: Tony Blair’s Gaza role prompts incredulity — and some hope

Some in former UK prime minister’s Labour party react with surprise at his proposed role in Palestinian territory

giftarticle.ft.com

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Erin A. Snider @erinsnider.bsky.social · 9d

Excellent piece by historian Tim Shenk on the future of the Democratic Party in today's NYT. Gift link:

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/29/o...

Mr. Mamdani and Mr. Osborn might not seem like they have much, or anything, in common — the child of an award-winning director and an Ivy League professor; the other a college dropout turned labor leader. But they both tapped into the roiling populist energies that have rocked the country since the financial crisis.

It’s a simple recipe, really: a scorching economic message delivered by political outsiders standing up to the powerful. The villains in this narrative — and it’s essential to have villains — are the elites at the top of a broken system. Neither Mr. Mamdani nor Mr. Osborn dwelled on cultural issues; instead, they concentrated on subjects like increasing wages and affording a home. Although their signature positions have strong public backing, their platforms are more than just a grab bag of whatever does best in the polls. They tell a story that reframes the debate, enlisting voters in a battle between the many and the few, with stakes that reach into everyday life.

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Amarnath Amarasingam @amaramarasingam.bsky.social · 9d

When math is hard.

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Tom Pepinsky @tompepinsky.com · 10d

Przeworski says it cleanly, clearly, and convincingly.

What then must we do?

www.dissentmagazine.org/article/how-...

The Democratic establishment is clearly betting that Republicans will offer them an electoral victory while they attend the wedding parties of billionaires. The only vision for the Democratic Party originates from its left wing, which is vigorously censured by its mainstream. It may well be that the Democratic leadership is correct in thinking that the best strategy is to do nothing and waiting for MAGA to fail. But this, like MAGA, is a “back again” ideology, one of “restoring” democracy rather than transforming the conditions that generated the present disaster. To restore democracy, it needs to be reformed. This is the project we need.

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 14d

This is great piece about the contradictions of unitary executive theory. I’ve always struggled to understand why powerful people take it seriously and the obvious answer is that it takes powerful people seriously.

There is something odd, however, about a democratic accountability that relies on maximalist claims of executive power and the subversion of congressional statutes. It seems positively strange, in fact, to have to point out that Congress - a coequal branch of government with more power at its disposal than any of the others — is democratically elected. But it's true.
Majorities of Congress are, in fact, democratically elected alongside the president. And where the public only has one chance every four years to choose a president, it has one chance every two years to choose a Congress.

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Erin A. Snider @erinsnider.bsky.social · 16d

Huge news here today in Egypt:

President Sisi pardons Alaa Abd El-Fattah after years of imprisonment & repeated hunger strikes.

Egypt's President Sisi pardons high-profile Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah, al Qahera news says

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi pardoned high-profile Egyptian-British activist, Alaa Abd el-Fattah, after a lengthy imprisonment and repeated hunger strikes that prompted international pleas for his release, Al Qahera news said on Monday.

www.reuters.com

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