Jim Ludes

Bernard LaFayette, Selma voting rights organizer, dies at 85 Voting rights organizer Bernard LaFayette has died. LaFayette's son says his father died Thursday morning of a heart attack. He was 85.

I was privileged to meet this humble and gentle giant. May he rest in peace.

apnews.com/article/bern...

Community Focus: Salve Regina Pell Center’s Jim Ludes on war in Iran Jim Ludes, executive director of the Pell Center at Salve Regina University, joined 12 News at 4 Tuesday to discuss the ongoing war in Iran.

#WATCH: After the United States and Israel launched strikes in Iran over the weekend, many are asking: Why Iran, and why now? @jimludes.bsky.social, executive director of Salve Regina's @pellcenter.bsky.social, joined 12 News at 4 to discuss the ongoing war.

When did the #corruption become so publicly normalized?

This mention shows that the business community understands that in order to do business with the U.S. Government, now, you need to have investment that benefits the Trump family.

Source: www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

Can we all just agree that a real diplomat—hell, anyone not an idiot—doesn’t ask publicly why your negotiating partner hasn’t “capitulated” when you’re in the middle of a negotiation?

Trump is undercutting world order launched after WWII, history professor says - The Boston Globe On the Rhode Island Report podcast, Salve Regina University professor Jim Ludes talks about US foreign policy on Greenland, Venezuela, and Canada.

Grateful to @fitzprov.bsky.social for having me on the Boston Globe's Rhode Island Podcast. We had a great conversation about the changes President Trump is making in American foreign policy. Read the article and listen to the podcast at this gift link:

www.bostonglobe.com/2026/02/19/m...

Yesterday morning kids were sent running from their bus stop in panic because ICE showed up. This guy at today’s ICE Out of Lindenwold protest is a must watch 😭. @maddow.bsky.social

Migrant Warfare with Karen-Anna Eggen & Jyri Lavikainen

🎙️ Jyri and I joined @jimludes.bsky.social and Mark R. Jacobson on their excellent Active Measures Newsletter Podcast to discuss our recent article on Russia's strategic use of migrants.

I also recommend their newsletter, where you can find links to our article and our Moscow Times opinion piece.

25th Amendment.

Putin will forever trade lives in Ukraine for time as long as the strategic direction from Washington remains as it is right now. Time is on Putin’s side.

Trump Announces New European Tariffs in Greenland Standoff; Allies Outraged

Why do the American people have to pay more for stuff because the rest of the world rejects Trump’s demands that we redraw sovereign borders?

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/17/u...

This has been the Democratic refrain since at least the 2002 debate over Iraq. Criticize foreign policy and then pivot to healthcare. In general, I think it’s meager approach to political communication—even worse when it morphs, as it often does, into suggesting how to execute bad policy better.

I’m not okay with seizing oil from Venezuela.

I’m not okay with threats to annex Greenland.

I’m not okay with a president who thinks he is—and acts like—a king.

I’m not okay.

So to sum up: After 20 years of failed nation building, a 34x convicted felon who tried to overturn an election to stay in power, seizes another country’s president and declares on his own imperial authority that we are going to run a country and take its oil.

Not all heroes wear capes.

The Summer of Starvation: Amid Trump’s Foreign Aid Cuts, a Mother Struggles to Keep Her Sons Alive After the Trump administration cut off food from the third-largest refugee camp in the world, thousands of families faced impossible choices as their children starved.

When the Trump administration cut off food aid to one of the world’s largest refugee camps, it left hundreds of thousands of people to starve.

This is the story of one mother’s daily battle to keep her three young sons alive.

By Brett Murphy and @annamaria.bsky.social, photos by Brian Otieno

😳

At what point do GOP leaders in Congress say “enough?”

What did he take before this? He took too much!

OMG, he’s Commander Queeg.

That was one sad presidential coin toss.

The EU has slapped a fine on Musk's X because it is untransparent and supports deceptive practices. Nothing to do with "censorship."

Child deaths under 5 believed to be rising for first time in decades Cuts to development aid from several countries is a key factor, researchers said.

The death rate among children under 5 is expected to grow this year for the first time in the 21st century, researchers say. A key factor, they say, is cuts to U.S. and other foreign aid

www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...

Thinking a lot about this moment from literally the first chapter of "1984."

Imagine if they just subsidized newspapers and magazines the way they’re subsidizing this slop

How is it possible that Witkoff still has a job?

Judge dismisses Comey, James indictments after finding that prosecutor was illegally appointed A federal judge has dismissed the criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, concluding that the prosecutor who brought the charges at President Donald Trump’s urging was illegally appointed by the Justice Department.

BREAKING: Judge dismisses cases against James Comey and Letitia James after finding that prosecutor was illegally appointed.

The President Is Losing Control of Himself Donald Trump’s outbursts on social media this week were different than usual.

This is a new and dire development in the ongoing American constitutional crisis. The voters, Congress, and, yes, the U.S. military must all now be more vigilant than at any time in our modern history.

www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify swastikas, nooses as hate symbols The military service, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security, has drafted a new policy that classifies such items “potentially divisive.”

Exclusive: The U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify the swastika, nooses and the Confederate flag as hate symbols.

The military service drafted a new policy that classifies them as “potentially divisive.”

Happy Cold War Victory Day!

Well this got my blood boiling this morning…..