More Republicans now support “strong leaders” who “bend the rules.”
New survey data shows again how partisanship weakens a commitment to democracy.
See the data, here: goodauthority.org/news/more-re...
This is not good.
Eliminar a un capo sin desmantelar las condiciones de mercado y las debilidades institucionales que sostienen al crimen organizado no reduce la violencia. La reacomoda.
open.substack.com/pub/garciapo...
When cartel leaders are targeted, command structures break down and rivals jockey for influence. @garciaponce.bsky.social summarizes the research on kingpin strategies and what might be different about El Mencho.
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/el-m...
I wrote about the recent killing of El Mencho, what the evidence says about decapitating the leadership of major criminal organizations, and whether things could actually be different this time.
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/el-m...
Read in companion with Thomas’ book on the radical environmental movement! www.zeitzoff.com/no-option-bu...
![Picture of conservationist and eugenicist Madison Grant. The Passing of the Great Race: Or, The Racial Basis of European History is a 1916 racist and pseudoscientific[1][2] book by American lawyer, anthropologist, and proponent of eugenics Madison Grant (1865–1937). Grant expounds a theory of Nordic superiority, claiming that the "Nordic race" is inherently superior to other human "races". The theory and the book were praised by Adolf Hitler and other Nazis, Hitler referring to it as "his Bible". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Passing_of_the_Great_Race](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:o7xolczmsmgspo2alr3rlwjm/bafkreigq4bujhyplqqai4ytey6uaszp2wkom5lebpeukq6fr6tgcnsktum@jpeg)
Picture of conservationist and eugenicist Madison Grant. The Passing of the Great Race: Or, The Racial Basis of European History is a 1916 racist and pseudoscientific[1][2] book by American lawyer, anthropologist, and proponent of eugenics Madison Grant (1865–1937). Grant expounds a theory of Nordic superiority, claiming that the "Nordic race" is inherently superior to other human "races". The theory and the book were praised by Adolf Hitler and other Nazis, Hitler referring to it as "his Bible". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Passing_of_the_Great_Race
The Ghosts of John Tanton by Abrahm Lustgarten October 19, 2024, 5:00 am Change Appearance ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. Reporting Highlights Tanton’s Network: Today’s contentious immigration debate is the construct of one man’s effort to halt overpopulation, brace for climate change and preserve “European” culture. Green Hate: Now climate change is amplifying environmental concerns that have always run through the white supremacy and the anti-immigration movements. Eco-Fascism: Experts warn that extremists who seize on global warming to justify violence are part of a far right trend to reclaim environmentalism as their own. https://www.propublica.org/article/john-tanton-far-right-extremism-environmentalism-climate-change
NYTimes: David Foreman, Hard-Line Environmentalist, Dies at 75 As a co-founder of the group Earth First!, he advocated slashing tires and downing power lines in an effort to return vast swaths of the country to their natural state. Still, even some in the movement found him beyond the pale. Murray Bookchin, a philosopher and environmental theorist, called him an eco-fascist for statements that appeared to prioritize animals over people, like when he seemed to endorse famine in Ethiopia and immigration restrictions in the United States as means to reduce the human population. (In both cases he had misspoken, he said.) https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/28/us/david-foreman-dead.html
While researching my book, I was struck by the role racist and xenophobic ideas played in U.S. environmental history.
Prominent figures:
-Pushed "Great Replacement" style demographic fears
-Helped build the modern anti-immigration movement
-Argued against famine aid on ecological grounds
Thanks to @au-spa.bsky.social for the feature discussing my book, *No Option But Sabotage*, and repression, radical environmentalism, and today’s climate politics.
www.american.edu/spa/news/no-...
📢1 WEEK LEFT to apply!
EGAP #LatAm Learning Days Workshop + PhD Lab @Institute of Sociology, Catholic University of Chile.
Deadline: Feb 28, 2026
buff.ly/9xgFGs2
@jakebowers.bsky.social @dktrdr.bsky.social @slopezcariboni.bsky.social @garciaponce.bsky.social @lmaldona.bsky.social
Cualquier gobierno en Caracas tendrá que enfrentar un aparato de seguridad fragmentado, un territorio disputado por el crimen organizado y un sector petrolero vulnerable a la captura y la extorsión. open.substack.com/pub/garciapo...
Any new government in Venezuela will have to address the country’s broken military, fragmented politics, and an oil sector vulnerable to corruption, writes @garciaponce.bsky.social.
Picture of No Option But Sabotage
My book—No Option But Sabotage: The Radical Environmental Movement and the Climate Crisis—comes out today!
It's the result of 3+ years of research and 150+ interviews with 100+ activists and experts.
What Will It Take to Rebuild the Government in Post-Maduro Venezuela?
I wrote about three interrelated governance challenges: 1) a fragmented security apparatus, 2) the strong presence organized criminal groups, and 3) the vulnerability of the oil sector. 👇
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/what...
A lot of smart people have been in denial about AI for understandable reasons:
– the people pitching it can be distasteful
– there’s been a ton of snake-oil hype
– it’s easier not to reckon with a major disruption
Look at Bangkok for the last four elections compared to this
A city that once was a royalist Democrat stronghold has become a blaring orange progressive bastion
I think that there's a really interesting story in there about Thai Millennials and Gen Z, economic development, and progressivism
Stacks of No Option But Sabotage
*No Option But Sabotage* is out in 10 days.
Pre-order links are pinned—thank you for all the support!
Did NAFTA unintentionally reshape Mexico’s drug violence? A new JDE paper (Hidalgo, Hornung & Selaya) shows NAFTA may have raised the value of trafficking corridors, reorganizing where drug-related violence occurred.
open.substack.com/pub/garciapo...
Picture of me discussing my book with JJ Green at Politics and Prose on the Wharf
Really enjoyed the conversation last Friday at Politics and Prose with @jjgreenjr.bsky.social —talking repression, protest tactics, and climate activism.
We discussed my new book, No Option But Sabotage, that comes out Feb 16 with @academic.oup.com ⬇️
What I see instead—departing from the traditional authoritarian blueprint—is a strategy of crisis production (manufacture emergencies, force institutional confrontations, etc.) that blurs domestic and foreign policy into one battlefield to justify and normalize the use of coercion as governance.
Without knowing the details of how this backsliding index is constructed, I worry it may not be capturing durable authoritarian consolidation. Despite all the chaos, the U.S. has not (yet) experienced media capture or electoral manipulation. At least not on the scale seen in the other cases…
Este verano impartiremos un taller sobre inferencia causal y ensayos controlados aleatorizados (RCTs) en Santiago de Chile!
Quienes postulen deberán estar vinculados a una universidad, entidad gubernamental u organización de la sociedad civil en América Latina.
Looking forward to this book talk on Friday —really important work by @zeitzoff.bsky.social on the growing threat of climate change and the ways activists are responding to it.
ICE detained hundreds of thousands of people last year, shuttling them between jails and detention centers around the country, limiting access to legal support.
Campaign Funding Increasingly Dominated by Ultra-Wealthy in the U.S.
As scholars like @gabrielzucman.bsky.social, @adambonica.bsky.social, and @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social show, extreme wealth concentration profoundly distorts U.S. politics:
data4democracy.substack.com/p/money-does...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
paulkrugman.substack.com/p/talking-wi...
Highlights from today's #AmericasMigrationBrief include:
➡️ 🇺🇸 immigration agents murder another citizen
➡️ 🇹🇹 migrant regularization program begins
➡️ 🇨🇱 president-elect looks to emulate 🇩🇴 enforcement strategies
➡️ 🇬🇹🇧🇿 border crossing cards a success
www.migrationbrief.com/p/americas-m...
An aging, increasingly unpopular leader with autocratic impulses sends masked agents into opposition areas to provoke unrest. Those agents shoot an unarmed civilian observer after disarming him, obstruct evidence collection, and the government then lies about it publicly.
When you explain it plainly, it’s hard not to see where we are as a country.
Screenshot of Thomas Zeitzoff — No Option But Sabotage: The Radical Environmental Movement and the Climate Crisis -with JJ Green — at The Wharf.
No Option But Sabotage Cover
I’m excited to share that I’ll be doing a book talk and launch with @jjgreenjr.bsky.social for my new book:
*No Option But Sabotage*
at Politics and Prose (The Wharf) next Friday, 1/30.
politics-prose.com/thomas-zeitz...
In interviews, nurses and doctors in the Twin Cities said federal agents have broken hospital protocol, refused to provide warrants and gotten into shouting matches with staff. Some compared the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown to the coronavirus pandemic. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/19/u...
🚨WHOA. The El Paso Medical Examiner says it will rule the death of a 55-year-old Cuban man at ICE's "Camp East Montana" tent camp as a homicide.
He was allegedly choked to death by a guard during a "struggle" after he refused to enter a housing unit without his medications.
