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Skip Mark @skipmark.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Chad Joseph and Rishi Samaroo were from Trinidad. “Chad was a loving and caring son who was always there for me, for his wife and children, and for our whole family.” “Rishi used to call our family almost every day, and then one day he disappeared, and we never heard from him again” 5/x

aclu.org

Families of Trinidadian Men Killed in Illegal Boat Strike Sue Trump Administration | American Civil Liberties Union

Oct. 14 strike that killed Chad Joseph and Rishi Samaroo is part of an unprecedented bombing campaign in the Caribbean

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Skip Mark @skipmark.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

The US is routinely murdering civilians without due process, despite strong evidence that they are killing civilians, with no effort to investigate. The US has provided no evidence that any of those killed were involved in drug trafficking. Though it would still be illegal to kill them. 4/x

theguardian.com

13 men killed by US military boat strikes identified: ‘These were flesh-and-blood people’

All victims of US strikes in eastern Pacific and the Caribbean identified so far came from extremely poor communities

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Skip Mark @skipmark.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

"Since September 2025, the U.S. Southern Command has carried out nearly 60 air strikes against boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, killing at least 196 people... These actions, committed against people who pose no imminent threat to life...amount to crimes under international law." 3/x

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Skip Mark @skipmark.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

September 2, 2025 the Trump administration killed 11 people on off the coast of Venezuela. After the initial strike, 2 people survived and the military struck again killing them. This is likely illegal under international law for targeting civilians who pose no risk. And for the second strike 2/x

abcnews.com

New details emerge about controversial Sept. 2 strike on alleged drug boat that killed survivors

They came as the commander who launched the second strike headed to brief lawmakers on Thursday.

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Skip Mark @skipmark.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Human rights violations carried out by the United States have increased under the Trump administration. My plan is to try and document some of these violations. A short thread on the extrajudicial killings in the Caribbean carried out by the Trump Administration. 1/x

amnesty.org

USA: Death Toll in Campaign of Extrajudicial Killings at Sea Nears 200

Since September 2025, the U.S. Southern Command has carried out nearly 60 air strikes against boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, killing at least 196 people so far

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Skip Mark @skipmark.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Killing the leader was never going to topple the regime. Competitive authoritarian regimes do not topple when a leader is removed. This war was a mistake that most experts warned against. Trump is ignoring the experts. On top of that this war has led to the US committing war crimes (my words).

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Skip Mark @skipmark.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Iranians were angry at the government. Nationwide protests before the war had weakened the government. The war has increased government support due to a rally around the flag effect. Just because people are angry at their government does not mean they want a foreign power to overthrow it. 2/3

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Skip Mark @skipmark.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

@royaizadi.bsky.social has a wonderful piece in @goodauth.bsky.social. A few takeaways 1/3 1.) pre war support for the government was higher than most people think (50%), while support for regime change was low (30%). The regime had a lot more support than media coverage would suggest.

goodauthority.org

Why Washington keeps misreading Iran

What history and political science can tell us about the resilience of the Islamic Republic’s government and institutions.

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Laura Huber @laurahuber.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Many studies find a link between sexism and support for political violence in some countries, but does it hold worldwide? We explore this in our new research note at @conflictmanagement.bsky.social! Spoilers: Kinda yes but also kinda no journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

journals.sagepub.com

Peace through equality: Exploring the cross-national micro-foundations of the gender equality-peace nexus - Laura Huber, Elaine Tagert, 2026

Does individual-level support for women's rights decrease tolerance of political violence cross-nationally? While some research demonstrates that support f...

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Skip Mark @skipmark.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

New set of fellows at good authority. A really good resource for those looking for expert takes on current events. Shout out for @royaizadi.bsky.social who one of the new fellows.

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Stephen Bagwell @stephenmbagwell.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

New in @theconversation.com In short: @rightstracker.bsky.social data show the US is behind on economic and social rights (education, healthcare, dignified work and fair pay, food and nutrition) relative to what it can afford and its peers, looking at 30 years theconversation.com/americans-ar...

theconversation.com

Americans are not as well off as people in peer nations – US safety net’s shortfalls show up in global data

This is not a one-year blip. The US has been underperforming in terms of health, education and more for the past 25 years.

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Skip Mark @skipmark.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Political/transparency reforms & revenue/privatization reforms independently worsen rights outcomes — including measures meant to fight corruption. There’s also less variation in outcomes as compliance rises — the more a country complies, the less room governments have to shield people from harm.

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Skip Mark @skipmark.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Using new IMF compliance data matched to @rightstracker.bsky.social scores on health, education, food, housing & work. Even at average compliance, the negative effect is substantively. IMF austerity harms economic and social rights. 2/

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Skip Mark @skipmark.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Knicks in five! An amazing NBA final. Knicks win the title

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Alex Braithwaite @thebraith.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

Rachel Van Nostrand and I wrote a piece for The Conversation U.S. (with help from two excellent University of Arizona students, Malia Hirasa and Sydney Horton.) We detail how US ICE detention facilities qualify as a system of concentration camps.

url.usb.m.mimecastprotect.com

When immigration detention becomes a system of concentration: Lessons from research on 150 historical cases

Scholars have defined the elements of what qualifies as a concentration camp system. Based on those, ICE detention facilities meet the definition of concentration camps.

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Dr. Kelebogile Zvobgo (she/her) @kellyzvobgo.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

🖨️ Thrilled to end a chockablock week with the online publication of my third peer-reviewed article coauthored w/ William & Mary students. We employ GIS mapping tools to understand memorialization of political violence in the empirical context of a post-colonial state. Link: doi.org/10.1177/0738...

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Skip Mark @skipmark.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

Good point. I’d say the US bears a good deal of responsibility for what’s happening around the world both directly and indirectly.

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Skip Mark @skipmark.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

A recent piece I wrote with David Cingranelli. We argue that the US is committing atrocities and things are on track to escalate. Take this as me ringing the alarm bell. Things are deteriorating worldwide, and the US is not an exception.

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Josh Zingher @zingherpolisci.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

Americans have a habit of trying to compare all authoritarianism to Nazi Germany. I think in some ways i think it is comforting to view authoritarianism as a foreign ideology. If you want to understand our current authoritarian moment, you need to look to our own past, not to Europe 1/x

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

Straight to the Intro to IR syllabus

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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 29/11/2025

The Doctor is right and correct

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Skip Mark @skipmark.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

The chief reason Mamdani has aroused such keen interest is because he is the first leftwinger to show that politicians can not only face down Trumpism, they can beat him…The centre-left should be taking on the extreme right and acting as the anti-Trump. Instead…it is playing at being not-Trump.

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Erica Chenoweth @chenoweth.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

Privileged to write this editorial with @gretchentg.bsky.social of @ucs.org in @science.org: "Scientists’ role in defending democracy." www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A red quotation mark graphic, followed by bold text excerpted from an August 14th Science magazine editorial by Gretchen Goldman and Erica Chenoweth, saying "The ability to tell the truth, especially when it does not suit any particular partisan aims, is an essential prerequisite for a free society."

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Skip Mark @skipmark.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

A shout out to @aaup.org, the URI Adjunct faculty union, and the URI Professional Staff Association (PSA), a bargaining unit affiliated with the National Education Association of Rhode Island (NEARI). You are almost always better off in a union, so join one, start one, or support one!

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Skip Mark @skipmark.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

Promoting labor rights reduces inequality, narrows the racial wealth gap, and serves as a popular policy platform for politicians seeking to win elections. If you expand this to all labor rights, you have a political agenda that motivates a majority of diverse voters and strengthens democracy.

epi.org

Americans favor labor unions over big business now more than ever

This piece was also published on Medium. For decades, Americans were evenly divided in their relative support of labor unions and big business, but that’s no longer the case. Now, Americans are more l...

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Skip Mark @skipmark.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

We use CIRIGHTS data, which codes US State Department and @amnesty.org human rights reports to assign numerical scores for two dozen human rights. For this piece, we examined the rights to unionize and engage in collective bargaining. We looked at both protection in law and in practice.

cirights.com

About CIRIGHTS

The goal of the CIRIGHTS data project is to create numerical measures for every internationally recognized human right for all countries of the world. Human rights scores are necessary for understa…

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Skip Mark @skipmark.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

Unions have an incentive to recruit all workers. As a result, they often help to promote racial inequality faster than other parts of society (they tend to be less racist). Where collective labor rights are strong, minorities can also unionize for themselves when they are shut out of other unions

epi.org

Unions promote racial equity

By now it is well known that unions are a key institution enforcing more equal outcomes by income class in the U.S. economy and that the policy-driven shrinkage of unionization has played a key role i...

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Skip Mark @skipmark.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

Unions, protected by collective labor rights, negotiate for higher wages, limit corporate power, and lobby for better working conditions for all workers. This is how we got the 40-hour workday, overtime pay, & restrictions on child labor. They also strengthen democracy and act as a check on power.

epi.org

Unions help reduce disparities and strengthen our democracy

Unions improve wages and benefits for all workers, not just union members. They help reduce income inequality by making sure all Americans, and not just the wealthy elite, share in the benefits of the...

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Skip Mark @skipmark.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

Building on our scholarly work, we argue that collective labor rights reduce inequality by empowering workers: they reduce the cost of organizing unions, reduce the cost of collective bargaining, create a credible threat for non-union workers to unionize, and protect the right to strike

link.springer.com

Union Rights and Inequalities - Human Rights Review

Competing arguments surrounding the relationships between inequalities and labor rights have persisted over time. This paper explores whether labor rights increase or decrease two types of wage inequa...

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Skip Mark @skipmark.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

New piece in the @us.theconversation.com with @stephenmbagwell.bsky.social The protection of collective labor rights (right to unionize, strike, and bargain collectively) reduces income inequality between individuals (poor vs. rich) and between ethnic/racial groups (white versus Black).

theconversation.com

Strengthening collective labor rights can help reduce economic inequality

A research team’s findings suggest that when workers are free to advocate for better wages and benefits for themselves, it also benefits society as a whole.

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K. Chad Clay @kchadclay.bsky.social · 24/06/2025

I'm happy to present Dr. Meridith LaVelle! Dr. LaVelle successfully defended her dissertation this morning. She will be a Humboldt Research Fellow at the University of Mannheim this fall. A huge thanks to her other committee members, Amanda Murdie, Danny Hill, and Jeffrey Berejikian.

Image of 5 people on Zoom: Amanda Murdie, K. Chad Clay, Daniel Hill, Jeffrey Berejikian, and Meridith LaVelle

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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

🧵 To make this more concrete: don't assume Trump himself knows what he is going to do next in in the Israel-Iran conflict. He definitely doesn't want to get the US involved in a major war in the Middle East (that much he's been clear on). But he loves to bomb and look tough. 1/

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Skip Mark @skipmark.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

In Providence & many cities protests stayed peaceful in large part because police did not engage in repression. In LA police repressed a large number of peaceful protesters exercising their first amendment right to protest & it turned violent. Before blaming protesters please consider the cause

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Skip Mark @skipmark.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

In LA today police used flash bangs, rubber bullets, tear gas, pepper balls, and kettled protesters. This happened before the curfew. This was repression & is illegal. Protesters threw tear gas canisters and rocks in return and this a prime example of how police turned a peaceful protest violent.

latimes.com

Thousands of 'No Kings’ marchers in L.A. protest immigration raids, President Trump

Protesters across Southern California and the country took to the streets for ‘No Kings’ demonstrations against President Trump and the $45-million celebration of the U.S. Army’s 250th birthday, which...

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Skip Mark @skipmark.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

In Providence there was little police presence. It was mostly used to direct traffic. Police were not armored with riot gear. Police stood away from protests and did not behave aggressively. These actions reduce violence. Let peaceful protests be and they usually stay peaceful What about LA?

abc6.com

Rhode Islanders join nationwide 'No Kings' protest | ABC6

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — Thousands made their way to the Rhode Island State House for a “No Kings” rally to protest the Trump Administration. The demonstration was one of nearly 2,000 held around the...

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Skip Mark @skipmark.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

When police use repression against peaceful protesters it has a few consequences: It can attract more violent members to the movement It can lead some people to believe violence is the only thing that will cause change It can provoke violence as an emotional response or attempt at revenge

scholar.google.com

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Skip Mark @skipmark.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

Police beating, or pepper spraying peaceful protesters understandably causes anger. If your friend or family member is the victim of repression, you may get angry enough to fight back. Violence here is caused by police and entirely preventable. Some violent protests are caused by police action

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Skip Mark @skipmark.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

violent repression of peaceful protesters and journalists includes: arrests, firing tear gas, firing rubber bullets, beating protesters with batons, kneeling on their neck, or trampling them with horses When protests are large and people are very angry this often provokes a violent response…

newsweek.com

LA protester stomped by police on horseback as clashes escalate: video

The video has gone viral online amid escalating violence during protests against Trump's immigration crackdown.

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Skip Mark @skipmark.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

Threats of repression increase the risk of protests turning violent A heavy police present increases opportunities for confrontations and often leads the public to view protests as violent. Why else would so many police be there? peaceful protests can end in violence because of these threats

upriseri.com

Heavy Police Presence at Protests Shapes Public Perceptions of Violence, New Study Finds - Uprise RI

A new study reveals that police behavior at Black Lives Matter protests significantly influenced how the public perceived these demonstrations. The research suggests that a heavy police presence, even...

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Skip Mark @skipmark.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

Alternatively police can repress or threaten to repress protesters Threats of repression include: Trump threatening to “crush protesters” Bringing in the national guard and marines to police protests Police showing up in riot gear and acting aggressively www.msnbc.com/msnbc/amp/sh...

msnbc.com

Trump threatens military parade protesters, says dissenters will face 'very heavy force'

Ahead of his military parade, Donald Trump said those who dared to express their First Amendment rights should expect to face "very heavy force."

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Skip Mark @skipmark.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

Policymakers can ignore protesters, hope they get tired and give up. Or they can listen and talk with protesters. Some policymakers join protests, make speeches, & show support RI Senator Jack Reed, State Representative David Morales, & City Councilman John Goncalves joined RI protests today

youtu.be

NoKingsRI: United States Senator Jack Reed (Democrat; Rhode Island)

YouTube video by Steve Ahlquist

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Skip Mark @skipmark.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

In Providence there were two protests today. One by the state capital and one by India Point Park There were thousands of protesters in the street demanding change related to: Immigrant rights ICE Trump Taxing billionaires Trans rights Healthcare Democracy Women’s rights Inequality Elon Musk

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