iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Alexandra Mathieu @alexmathieu.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

A lot of political scientists are about to learn of me by way of my taxi driver father shuttling them around Boston this weekend and talking about me to them lol He's unironically a great networker for me 😆

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Alexandra Mathieu @alexmathieu.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Posted this update on LinkedIn and thought it would be good to post here as well. I'll forever be interested in academic political writing and research, but I am stepping away from academia for now.

a copy of a LinkedIn post detailing me leaving the academic job market and looking for non-academic career paths, preferably in the foreign policy/geopolitical analysis space, but open to any role where my expertise and skillset can be of use

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

The moral panic over cancel culture brought us state censorship. It’s not the only cause, but it’s a big contributor. They will never, ever admit that this is partially their fault. But it is. Exaggerate, repeat the same few anecdotes, claim a national crisis — that got results. Congrats.

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Alexandra Mathieu @alexmathieu.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

I've been mostly away as I struggle with finding a break in the job market. I have many thoughts and feelings that I don't feel like I can publicly share out of fear of alienating potential employers and missing out on future job prospects, which makes everything that much worse

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Lily Mason @lilymasonphd.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

And that’s convenient because the solution to polarization is to “take down the temperature,” while the solution to authoritarianism is to dismantle corrupt regimes via popular uprisings. 2/2

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Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Given the argument that ended the VRA, I think it’s time liberals did some self reflection about the now decades long obsession with partisan polarization as the problem, as opposed to authoritarianism, extremism, oligarchy, and racism

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Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

“we didn’t disenfranchise black people, just democrats, who in this region are mostly black” -this is apparently ok

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Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

There was one time in US history that racial polarization (white and black vote differently) didn’t necessarily coincide with partisan polarization (people vote for one party consistently), and it was the mid 20th century. Under SCOTUS logic, the Civil War was just about party, not race

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Chris Seaman @cbseaman.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

This:is 💯 correct. The vast majority of Section 2 litigation (and settlements made under the threat of litigation) have been at the local level. Callais will gut minority representation in city councils, county supervisors, and school boards across the county.

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Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Second (and last) #SCOTUS ruling is the big one, Louisiana v. Callais. For a 6-3 majority (Rs v. Ds), Justice Alito purports to narrow the ability of states to draw majority-minority districts as a remedy for race-based vote dilution, but, per Kagan's dissent, comes pretty close to gutting the VRA:

supremecourt.gov

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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 28/04/2026

The National Science Foundation is the main source of funding for basic sciences in the US. For decades, they have supported a scientific R&D ecosystem in the US that has been an engine of economic growth and competitive advantage. Destroying the agency is no less than an act of sabotage.

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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 28/04/2026

More details on the firing of the National Science Board. The NSF now has no director, deputy director, or board. They have issued almost no new awards in 2026. The plan appears to be to completely destroyed the agency. The details are horrifying and have Russ Vought written all over them.

insidehighered.com

Board Ouster Raises Further Concerns About NSF’s Future

The White House axed all members of the board overseeing the National Science Foundation Friday, leaving the agency with no board, director or deputy director. It finally provided a reason Monday afte...

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Alexandra Mathieu @alexmathieu.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

Happy to announce that I've been selected to be part of the 8th cohort for the @mansfieldfdn.bsky.social US-Japan Network for the Future program! Excited to meet everyone (fellow new cohort members and past ones) in DC this June. mansfieldfdn.org/blog/cohort-...

mansfieldfdn.org

Cohort 8 of the U.S.-Japan Network for the Future

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

Ongoing denial about the implications of the Iran war—Trump got the US into a bad strategic position and there’s no good way out—is because a lot of politicians, media, business, and public still tell themselves that empowering corrupt, incompetent, immoral, lawbreaking fascists wasn’t that bad.

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tmbhmltn.bsky.social @tmbhmltn.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Will the media treat Trump starting a war for no reason, wasting a bunch of lives, money and military equipment ending in strategic defeat like they did Biden ending a 20 year war that was going nowhere? (Lmao no, they absolutely will not)

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Matthew Gertz @mattgertz.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

The president is just posting his negotiating position on main. None of this is agreed to, and the fact that this is all he is asking for is a startling admission of U.S. strategic defeat. He is HOPING Iran will let him get back to a position worse than JCPOA.

The United States will work closely with Iran, which we have determined has gone through what will be a very productive Regime Change! There will be no enrichment of Uranium, and the United States will, working with Iran, dig up and remove all of the deeply buried (B-2 Bombers) Nuclear “Dust.” It is now, and has been, under very exacting Satellite Surveillance (Space Force!). Nothing has been touched from the date of attack. We are, and will be, talking Tariff and Sanctions relief with Iran. Many of the 15 points have already been been agreed to. Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP

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Alexandra Mathieu @alexmathieu.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

I've been logging off for my own sanity but I am on the market (and what a market it is...) If you know a place (academic and non-academic) that could use someone with poli sci, Japan pol, foreign policy, East Asia and/or soc sci research expertise, would greatly appreciate a connect/referral

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Emanuel Maiberg @emanuelmaiberg.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

after much deliberation and giving AI the benefit of the doubt, Wikipedia editors have had enough of AI slop. New policy bans LLM generated content, periodt www.404media.co/wikipedia-ba...

404media.co

Wikipedia Bans AI-Generated Content

“In recent months, more and more administrative reports centered on LLM-related issues, and editors were being overwhelmed.”

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NCC (北米日本研究資料調整協議会) @nccjapaninfo.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

Have you taken advantage of Japan Search for your teaching and research yet? 🔎 This search platform by the NDL aggregates resources on Japan across over 250 databases to help you find what you need! Watch our CDDP video guide on how to use this important tool! guides.nccjapan.org/cddp/video-s...

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Alexandra Mathieu @alexmathieu.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

For those in the Hong Kong area, I'll be giving a public talk at New Asia College about status, olympic hosting and japan's status concerns induced by a changing international order. Come if you can!

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Alexandra Mathieu @alexmathieu.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

It has been >10 yrs since I studied the legal system, but yea, case selection is the major deciding factor. Cases go to trial when prosecutors are almost certain they can convict and they rely/ied on (too often coerced) confessions to get there But current legal scholars feel free to correct

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gwen howerton @kissphoria.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

No more forever wars? No, more forever wars!

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Alexandra Mathieu @alexmathieu.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

I am so sorry Yorgos Lanthimos for not immediately seeing the vision with Bugonia the first time. I hear you loud and clear, now

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Alexandra Mathieu @alexmathieu.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

yeah the reality is unless the US loses all function to project power and influence internationally, it won't become a pariah until a viable alternative with about equal amounts of political, economic, and diplomatic infrastructure in place. that's part of the bleakness of the situation

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Charles McClean @cmcclean.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

The scale of the LDP’s victory is hard to overstate: • 316/465 seats (68%) — biggest win in party history • Swept 31 of 47 prefectures • With Ishin: 352 seats (76%), swept 33 prefectures Results: www.asahi.com/senkyo/shuin...

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Charles McClean @cmcclean.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

Takaichi's snap election gamble has clearly paid off. Snap elections tend to benefit incumbents — especially when opposition parties are caught off guard and the campaign period is particularly short. I've written about this dynamic before: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

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Alexandra Mathieu @alexmathieu.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

what a gamble Takaichi and the LDP made and unequivocally won

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Alexandra Mathieu @alexmathieu.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

Reposting again as the abstract submission deadline for this conference is Feburary 13th!

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Thomas Leeper @thosjleeper.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

National media should really be covering the fact thay every major school, museum, and arts institution in the Twin Cities, and hundreds of local businesses are closed tomorrow to protest federal occupation. Nothing like this at this scale has happened anywhere in America anytime in living memory.

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Alexandra Mathieu @alexmathieu.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

US foreign policy analysts choosing to ignore or downplay when racism and white supremacy (or identity and ideology in general) are primary motivators of American int'l policy? Must be a day that ends in y

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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

The University of Arkansas's law school just withdrew the appointment of its new dean six days after hiring her because conservative politicians complained that she filed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in support of transgender students

arktimes.com

Culture warriors cancel new U of A law dean before she started - Arkansas Times

Culture warriors claim the scalp of Emily Suski, the would-be law school dean whose legal opinion on transgender athletes seems to have offended Arkansas officials.

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Alexandra Mathieu @alexmathieu.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

!!!! CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT !!!! Yale's Council on East Asian Studies will be hosting the second annual Japan Conference for Social Scientists this spring. Details at the link. Funding is available to NA-based participants for travel and lodging! Early scholars encouraged to apply!

macmillan.yale.edu

Japan Conference for Social Scientists

Fri, May 29 2026, 9am - Sat, May 30 2026, 12pm |

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Brooke Harrington @ebharrington.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

The destruction doesn't make for a photo-op like tearing down the East Wing of the White House or bulldozing the Rose Garden, but it's every bit as bad. Generations of American children learned to spell and count, learned the Preamble to the Constitution, from watching shows produced by the CPB.

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Alexandra Mathieu @alexmathieu.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

The US attempting regime change in Latin America...time is a circle

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Alexandra Mathieu @alexmathieu.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

People ask what happens next with Venezuela and Maduro and the answer is, politely, we don't know But as a Haitian-American, I gotta tell you, the vibes feel familiarly dreadful. Power vacuums do not last and what/who comes next frequently breeds instability

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Doug Mack @douglasmack.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

What a time to know anything about the history of American imperialism and its consequences

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Alexandra Mathieu @alexmathieu.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

Universities must do better in protecting the people they employed, especially when they are from already marginalized communities. Seeking a diverse labor force only to leave them out to dry is exploitative and just ensures that those folks stop showing up.

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Alexandra Mathieu @alexmathieu.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

One funny thing about being a recovering perfectionist is that you will often fall back into perfectionism on a project and stress yourself out for weeks/months about it just to hit the "wall of clarity" and hit submit in the 11th hour, when you realize you are actually driving yourself insane

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˚*𓈒𓏸𑁍 Kaori Fujisawa ‎ꕤ @edcba1111.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

To keep the Indo-Pacific “free and open”… You need: Forward-deployed naval power Coordinated deterrence with Japan, Korea, Australia, Taiwan Shared strategic planning Intelligence, basing access, presence But the document says: “The days of the 🇺🇸propping up the entire world order are over.”

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˚*𓈒𓏸𑁍 Kaori Fujisawa ‎ꕤ @edcba1111.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

• Allies must assume primary responsibility for their own regions. • The U.S. will help only if allies first help themselves and align policies with U.S. interests. This is not alliance management. This is transactional outsourcing of security obligations.

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

Northwestern’s leaders will likely try to justify their choice to appease fascist extortion with some BS about needing to help researchers get federal funds that were illegally withheld, so it’s important to note that virtually all of the researchers said not to.

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Sarah T Roberts, PhD @ubiquity75.xyz · 29/11/2025

So apparently the administrators at Northwestern have caved to the extortionist demands of the Feds. Faculty voted 595-4 AGAINST this measure.

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Filipe Campante @filipecampante.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

Look, every single “deal” reached by a university with the Trump administration is a moral stain that will be seen with deep embarrassment once we’re through this. But for Northwestern to do this now, when the administration is visibly weakened, is even more shameful and inexcusable.

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rax ‘levon honkers’ king @raxkingisdead.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

gotta say this whole business about ‘electing a muslim mayor is basically pissing on the graves of 9/11 victims’ is just…just shockingly racist stuff i mean what else is there to say about it

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Alexandra Mathieu @alexmathieu.bsky.social · 02/11/2025

I remember when this article came out and how huge swaths of the internet dismissed it on its face. Eight years later and "digital blackface" has proven itself to be such an important concept. www.teenvogue.com/story/digita...

teenvogue.com

We Need to Talk About Digital Blackface in GIFs

Are you part of the problem?

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Alexandra Mathieu @alexmathieu.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

The intellectual critique in this thread is great but on a bit more of a personal note, as an alum, it is LAUGHABLE to paint Bowdoin as a hotbed of leftist ideology. I don't have the numbers, but consulting and finance were some of the top job placements for grads in my year (2015)

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