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Rodger Payne

@rodgerp.bsky.social
1.1K followers 545 following 1.1K posts

Prof of international relations at U of Louisville and co-director, Center for Asian Democracy. SABR member, Jayhawk hoops fan, film buff, & beer snob. Pictured: Committee meeting in the Netherlands as depicted by Rembrandt.

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Rodger Payne @rodgerp.bsky.social · 11h
Counter: Are we certain that the ideological clowns are out?
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Rodger Payne @rodgerp.bsky.social · 11h
He just had that convention in Texas urging people to vote for Republicans as if he was personally on the ballot.
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Rodger Payne @rodgerp.bsky.social · 11h
South Bend Cub Pete Crow-Armstrong, June 2022. I basically attended this game just to see him.
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Rodger Payne @rodgerp.bsky.social · 18h
Guessing that someone saw the data that the UK is now about as wealthy as Mississippi, America's poorest state.
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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 19h
when your country's new accord on “super intelligence” misspells the country's name
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UofL Center for Asian Democracy @asiandemocracy.bsky.social · 19h
Pakistan shuts down roads into the capital in preparation for the PTI’s protest march. The march will demand the freedom of the party’s former leader, Imran Khan, from prison. Khan remains Pakistan’s most prominent opposition leader despite his imprisonment. www.aljazeera.com/news-analysi...
aljazeera.com
‘Source of anxiety’: Pakistan cracks down before march to free Imran Khan
The government has blocked highways to the capital and set up container barriers in preparation for the PTI protest.
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Rodger Payne @rodgerp.bsky.social · 19h
Yesterday Schmitt was at least quite misleading if not outright lying. The false gotcha is always a bad look.
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Rodger Payne @rodgerp.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
This is probably well-known by now but Kansas has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since the 1930s.
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Rodger Payne @rodgerp.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
This is like vintage Daily Show material.
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Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
well when you put it like that it sounds stupid doesn't it
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Lauren Dobson-Hughes @ldobsonhughes.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
70% of Canadians defined national security and defence, as including climate and pandemic preparedness People don't have a narrow idea of defence. It isn't just guns and ammo. They think security means more than just countering terrorist threats progressdevelopment.substack.com/p/sovereignt...
progressdevelopment.substack.com
Sovereignty is the means not the end
What can we learn from a unique exercise that listens to Canadians talk about foreign policy?
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Rodger Payne @rodgerp.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
This is tone deafness. www.yahoo.com/news/politic...
yahoo.com
Obama: Government is ‘so much less corrupt than probably it’s ever been’
Former President Obama says in his just-launched literary-focused podcast that the federal government is “so much less corrupt” than it was in the past. “People are always surprised when I tell them t...
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Rodger Payne @rodgerp.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Once more: Kansas has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since the 1930s
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Corey Rayburn Yung @coreyryung.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
"Presidential Executive Orders" have no force outside of the Executive branch. Someone teaching at Hawaii can't be "non-compliant with them." This is jibberish capitulation BS.
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Rodger Payne @rodgerp.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Informative thread on blowback consequences of Trump's media bans.
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Rodger Payne @rodgerp.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Big shot: That Pete Alonso homer probably ended Yordan Alvarez triple crown hopes and may have ended Blue Jays playoff hopes too.
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Elon Green @elongreen.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Headline is not as strongly worded as the quote.
"There are reasonable grounds to believe that the reported 68 attacks that killed 223 people constituted crimes against humanity of murder under customary international law," Mr. Saul, a professor of international law at Australia's University of Sydney, concluded.
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
If any of these guys spent 1 hour with someone outside of their ideological bubble they might have learned something. For example, if you think you can cut the deficit via personnel cuts, you are a fucking clown who does not deserve to be listened to. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/a-year-on-...
Musk seems to have genuinely thought the government was Twitter. This was one of the rationales for hiring him - he dramatically cut Twitter’s personnel and underlying costs, and no big deal! But one major difference is that unlike a tech firm, personnel for the federal government is a minor cost. Because federal employee salaries make up only about 5% to 6% of spending, you can fire a huge proportion of them, and barely put a dent in federal spending.
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The Steady State @thesteadystate.org · 21/09/2026
Executive Director of The Steady State, Steven Cash, breaks down NSPM-7, which he calls the scariest government document he's ever seen, and how it repurposes the intelligence community to treat Americans as potential domestic terrorists.
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Adam McKay @ghostpanther.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Wrote it with Rob Smigel. And yes, it was pulled from reruns.
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Rodger Payne @rodgerp.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
The phrase they're looking for is "evil lair."
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Shiv Ramdas Mens Rice Activist @nameshiv.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
somehow the greatest anecdote that explains all politics
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
An entirely reasonable organizational response from CNN would be that they will no longer host members of the administration as long as the administration bars them from the White House
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Steve Marmel @marmel.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Pete Hegseth went to the A&M game and they lost to Kentucky for the first time in over 70 years. THERE IS NO BATTLE HE CANT LOSE.
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David Burbach 🇺🇸 @dburbach.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
National security expert here, and speaking strictly personally, what the f#ck???
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Ambassador Ken Fairfax (ret) @portlandken.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
The accounting is in: In Oregon there are 111 data centers. The TOTAL number of people employed at data centers is just 2,630, or 0.1% of the labor force. Those 100 data centers consumer 23% of all electricity used in Oregon. Meanwhile, electricity rates skyrocket as more centers are built.
opb.org
Oregon data centers by the numbers: 111 facilities consume nearly one-quarter of state’s power, according to new report
A first-of-its-kind report details the footprint of the controversial facilities.
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Dr. Jonathan Foley @globalecoguy.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Great quote, “Acknowledging climate change doesn’t make you liberal… it makes you literate.” - Paul Douglas
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Rodger Payne @rodgerp.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
First @asiandemocracy.bsky.social talk of the new academic year. Khasan Redjaboev was great and lunch was very good too!
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Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshks.org · 16/09/2026
Ask yourself this: how have institutions that for years have said they face budget shortfalls, deficits, shortages that “required” them to deny faculty lines, fire staff, raise tuition, cut research support, etc. suddenly find the money to pay for outrageously expensive contracts for AI services?
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Rodger Payne @rodgerp.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Players are wearing 21 today to honor Roberto Clemente.
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
It is irrational to engage in voter fraud as an individual, since the penalties vastly outweigh benefits. And so the people (typically immigrants/former felons) who register (more common) or vote when they were not supposed to are usually confused rather than bad actors.
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Rodger Payne @rodgerp.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Again, Kansas has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since the 1930s.
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Rodger Payne @rodgerp.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Personally, I'd talk about Barr's unabashed support for data centers more frequently. Looks like it's been 28 days since the last post mentioning data centers on Booker's account. kentuckylantern.com/2026/05/11/l...
kentuckylantern.com
Local data center battles in Kentucky are contentious. They’re also inspiring runs for office • Kentucky Lantern
Debates and disputes over data center proposals have animated elections and politics in Kentucky.
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Cheryl Rofer @cherylrofer.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
1. Elections are run by the states. 2. The Postal Service does not decide which mail to deliver.
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Rodger Payne @rodgerp.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Looks like the middle powers are trying to bolster the besieged liberal international order. Worth a try.
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Rodger Payne @rodgerp.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
"Before the latest blowup, Canada's effective tariff rate on U.S. imports was about 2.4%, less than half the 5% that the United States imposed on Canada, according to calculations by Oxford Economics. Most U.S. exports enter Canada duty-free..." finance.yahoo.com/economy/poli...
finance.yahoo.com
Why Canada? America's northern neighbor seems an unlikely target for a trade war
Canada might seem an unlikely target for a U.S. trade war. For American farmers, Canada is second only to Mexico as an export market. A North American trade pact — negotiated by President Donald Tru...
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Rodger Payne @rodgerp.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
This is not a deepfake.
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 10/09/2026
Lie after lie
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Rodger Payne @rodgerp.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
America, 2026. RIP?
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Peterson Institute for International Economics @piie.com · 11/09/2026
NEW: The US is trending toward more state control over the economy. That pivot is not being overseen by intellectual descendants of early 20th century socialist leader Eugene V. Debs—Democratic Socialist types—it is coming from the Trump administration. By @cullenhendrix.bsky.social:
piie.com
You're already getting socialism—and Democratic Socialists have nothing to do with it
The election of New York mayor Zohran Mamdani and the surprising performance of Democratic Socialist or DSA-aligned candidates in Democratic primaries across the United States is reviving interest in ...
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Will Jennings📉🗳️ @drjennings.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Perhaps the most striking thing about Trump's approval numbers is how relentless the gradual erosion of his popularity has been. There is no sign of any meaningful reversal. Data as ever via the brilliant @gelliottmorris.com @fiftyplusone.news.
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Rodger Payne @rodgerp.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Poorer? His party blames immigration (economic evidence demonstrates the reverse) while long-term economic and tax policy promoted by his party and neoliberals has redistributed income to create economic disparities reminiscent of the 1920s. Dirtier? I don't think he's talking about pollution.
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Judah Grunstein @judah-grunstein.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
I think we'd see a lot more urgency about regulating AI in Silicon Valley if the AI agents suddenly developed a sense of restorative justice, and instead of them threatening humanity with total extinction, they just wanted to redistribute wealth and reverse power hierarchies.
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Quinta Jurecic @qjurecic.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
a preview of what things could look like if SCOTUS allows the USPS rule to go forward: the Postal Service rejected envelopes from a county in Florida because the return address is 0.014 inches too close to other text on the envelope
electionlawblog.org
USPS Rejects Florida County’s Mail Ballot Envelope Design over Return Address Being 0.014 of An Inch Too Close #ELB
A taste of what would happen if the USPS mail ballot rules were in effect: The U.S. Postal Service — which President Donald Trump hopes to deploy to restrict mail voting in the November election — rec...
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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Again, this has become almost entirely a measure of partisanship & presidential approval now, with a dollop of inflation aversion. The link between material conditions & sentiment was rock-solid for decades. That broke during Covid: bsky.app/profile/mcop...
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Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Last month, the Pentagon fired the publisher and editor-in-chief of Stars and Stripes. Two opposite headlines this morning show the results were swift.
Hormuz shipping traffic falls to single digits, data shows
By Reuters
September 10, 2026 10:48 PM CDTOil shipments through Strait of Hormuz rise with US military assistance

By ALISON BATH  STARS AND STRIPES Published 27 minutes ago

Read more at: https://www.stripes.com/theaters/middle_east/2026-09-11/middle-east-iran-hormuz-navy-tankers-22817340.html
Source - Stars and Stripes
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Kwisatz Hottie Rack @oksettledown.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
RIP Trump dividend 9 Sep 2026 - 10 Sep 2026
The Guardian
Vance appears tobwalk back trump's offer of $5000 'dividend' if Republicans win midterms - US politics live
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Corey Rayburn Yung @coreyryung.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
If a reporter asked Trump "Would the loser Dumbocrats and those who didn't vote get the $5k?" there is a non-zero chance he would say it would only go to Republican voters. Then, there is a vote buying crime. For now, though, it's just hot air.
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Kansas Reflector @kansasreflector.com · 10/09/2026
Opinion editor @claywires.bsky.social writes: Roger Marshall’s glass jaw shatters as string of embarrassing stories wallop Kansas senator #ksleg
kansasreflector.com
Roger Marshall's glass jaw shatters as string of embarrassing stories wallop Kansas senator • Kansas Reflector
U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, has taken it on the chin repeatedly over the past week in his re-election campaign.
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Pause AI in BC Schools @aicaution.ca · 10/09/2026
The data from this OECD PISA report is damning. "students who do not use AI outperform those who do, ... equivalent to being around one year of schooling ahead of their peers." www.oecd.org/en/publicati...
Graph showing students who never use AI scoring 505 on a "draft texts for writing assignments" task. As students use AI more, the score goes down, until students who use it daily score 480.
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