Susan Shepler
@susanshepler.bsky.social
240 followers 220 following 60 posts
Assoc. Prof. at the School of International Service, American University, Washington DC. Sierra Leone. 🇸🇱
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susanshepler.bsky.social
Professor hivemind: I'm developing a new course for freshmen on "human rights and body modification." My way into the topic is debates around Female Genital Cutting. Any suggestions for other topics? Readings?
Reposted by Susan Shepler
roxanegay.bsky.social
All those generals and senior officers flown in from their actual jobs, at enormous taxpayer expense, only to listen to two idiots blathering in ways that defy credulity. Their group chats must be on fire.
Reposted by Susan Shepler
zekuzelalem.bsky.social
THREAD: this investigation took up over half my year, but it's here in @thecontinent.org:
A Djiboutian drone strike in January was depicted as a army operation targeting rebels. It was actually a massacre of civilians. The bloodshed & coverup implicating Ethiopia, Djibouti, France & Turkiye.
#OSINT
The Continent 27 SEPTEMBER 2025 | ISSUE 215
 15
 INVESTIGATION
 The Djiboutian massacre 
Ethiopia won’t acknowledge
 Djibouti drones killed eight people on the other side of its 
border with Ethiopia. Djibouti claimed they were terrorists. 
Ethiopia said nothing. This investigation found that some of 
the dead were Ethiopians, revealing another episode in Addis’s 
tendency to let its neighbours kill its citizens with impunity. 
Crossing the line: Djibouti’s bombs landed inside Ethiopia, killing civilians – not armed fighters.
 zecharias zelalem 
On 30 January this year, a drone manned 
from Djibouti dropped a bomb on a 
funeral gathering in Siyaru, a remote, 
semi-arid village near the Ethiopia
Djibouti border. As rescuers rushed in, a 
second bomb dropped. And then a third.
 At least eight people were killed, 
including three children. Several 
others were injured. Given the village’s 
remoteness, the incident might have 
gone unreported if graphic images of 
the dead hadn’t spread across Ethiopian 
social media. 
A statement from the Djibouti’s 
defence ministry said the drone struck 
rebel fighters from the Front for the 
 Restoration of Unity and Democracy 
(Frud), a Djiboutian political party with 
a military wing. It has been fighting for 
Afar interests in Djibouti since the 1990s. 
The Afar are a community split by the 
colonial border separating Ethiopia, 
Djibouti, and Eritrea. 
“Eight terrorists were neutralised on 
site,” said a Djibouti military statement. 
“Unfortunately, collateral damage 
among Djiboutian civilians in the area 
has been documented.” 
International media, including Voice 
of America, Agence France Presse, and 
Radio France Internationale reported 
this version of events.
 Now, new findings from an open
In recovery: Mariam Mohammed Abdullah was 
injured in the drone strike.
 source investigation by The Continent 
reveal a different reality. 
The bombs landed inside Ethiopia, 
not in Djibouti, and civilians – not armed 
fighters – were killed. That distinction 
matters. It shows Ethiopia is once again 
tolerating a foreign military targeting its 
own citizens, as it did with Eritrea during 
the Tigray conflict.
 A transparent lie
 Even before the ink could dry on the 
Djiboutian military’s statement, The 
Addis Standard and human rights groups 
in Djibouti were emphatic that the strike 
had actually occurred inside Ethiopia’s 
Afar region. But Alexis Mohamed, an 
adviser to Djiboutian President Ismaïl 
Omar Guelleh, rubbished these reports 
in now-deleted social media posts.
 The Continent got to work to figure out 
what really happened. Over the course 
of eight months, we collected eyewitness 
testimonies, interviewed human rights 
activists in Ethiopia and Djibouti, and 
examined images and footage from the 
strike. Our findings align with those of 
Djiboutian activists, who pinpointed 
Siyaru in Ethiopia’s Afar region as the 
site of the strike. 
The ammunition residue found on the 
night of the strike confirms the bomb 
was manufactured by Roketsan, a state
run weapons manufacturer in Türkiye. 
Former US army explosives expert 
Trevor Ball identified t…
Reposted by Susan Shepler
citationspod.bsky.social
In Ep 228, "Billionaires as Insta-Experts: How Our Media Conflates Extreme Wealth with Expertise," we break down the media convention of assuming the rich are per se experts on everything from education to "the economy" to poverty in Africa when, in reality, they are Just Some Guys.
Ep 228 - Billionaires as Insta-Experts: How Our Media Conflates Extreme Wealth with Expertise
Citations Needed is a podcast about the media, power, PR, and the history of bullshit. It is hosted by Nima Shirazi and Adam Johnson, and produced by Florence Barrau-Adams.
soundcloud.com
susanshepler.bsky.social
Your fans demand a tour T-shirt!
Reposted by Susan Shepler
vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social
We have been shadowbanned on this event and yet we are nearly sold out…come help us sell out and show your love and support for Palestine and Gaza.

www.ticketmaster.com/voices-for-g...
susanshepler.bsky.social
I know what you mean. It took me like thirty seconds to relax into it and think "well, this is obviously the future."
Reposted by Susan Shepler
Reposted by Susan Shepler
susanshepler.bsky.social
Is it just me, or does anyone else feel like as soon as they finish an article or manuscript review another request for review comes in? It's like clockwork.
susanshepler.bsky.social
In line for my flu AND COVID vaccines at Kaiser Richmond in my beautiful California. Line’s around the block.
Reposted by Susan Shepler
veenadubal.bsky.social
Wall-to-Wall UC labor union rally tomorrow in front of the UC Regents meeting. Our message to Trump: Hands off our UC!!
Reposted by Susan Shepler
clarajeffery.bsky.social
UC-Berkeley gives Trump administration 160 names “related” to anti-semitism, mostly for voicing support for Palestinians. Judith Butler is among them, she calls this “McCarthyism” UC Berkeley gives Trump administration 160 names in antisemitism probe

www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...
UC Berkeley gives Trump administration 160 names in antisemitism probe
UC Berkeley gave the Trump administration the names of 160 students, faculty and staff and info about their “potential connection to reports of alleged antisemitism” — sparking due-process...
www.sfchronicle.com
Reposted by Susan Shepler
spaceforpeace.bsky.social
See ICE? Mark the location on Waze as "icy conditions". Brilliant tactic being used in DC. Let's spread it.
Reposted by Susan Shepler
afrobarometer.bsky.social
Majority of Sierra Leoneans want to leave the country, mostly to find work, escape poverty

Head over to our website to read more: bit.ly/4gdOxZv

#SierraLeone #Migration #VoicesAfrica
Reposted by Susan Shepler
macartan.bsky.social
Please share: @alanjacobs.bsky.social and I are running a Jan '26 course at @gesis.org Cologne on

𝐂𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐐𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐢𝐱𝐞𝐝 𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐝𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡

🕵️Process tracing + Bayesian inference + graphical causal models

All in two heady days.

training.gesis.org?site=pDetail...
GESIS Training Courses
training.gesis.org
Reposted by Susan Shepler
melodyschreiber.com
Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo: 28 suspected cases and 15 deaths, including four health workers, have been reported as of Sept 4.

Disease surveillance and health support, yanked by the U.S., can catch these outbreaks early. So many cases already.
www.afro.who.int/countries/de...
Democratic Republic of the Congo declares Ebola virus disease outbreak in Kasai Province
Kinshasa – Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have declared an outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Kasai Province where 28 suspected cases and 15 deaths, including four health w...
www.afro.who.int
Reposted by Susan Shepler
osamet.bsky.social
I know there's a lot happening today, but this is sneaking in under the radar. This proposed new rule would absolutely crush foreign PhD students, potentially making it impossible for them to enroll with any certainty of their ability to finish www.politico.com/news/2025/08...
Reposted by Susan Shepler
ausis.bsky.social
The School of International Service is currently inviting applications for three tenure-track assistant professor positions beginning August 1, 2026. 🧵 ⬇️ #AcademicSky
SIS is hiring
Reposted by Susan Shepler
propublica.org
On the left: Nate Cavanagh, a 28-year-old DOGE staffer and college dropout.

On the right: Mohammad Halimi, a 53-year-old exiled Afghan scholar.

This is the story of how DOGE targeted Halimi on social media.

Then the Taliban took his family. 🧵
Photo of DOGE staffer Nate Cavanagh, a 28-year-old white man in a blue pullover, carrying a black backpack. Photo of 53-year-old Afghan scholar Mohammad Halimi. He is sitting, wearing white pants and shirt with a brown vest.