State Terror A brief guide for Americans

"State Terror: A brief guide for Americans"
Revisiting a piece I wrote in April 2025
"In the history of state terror, the escape from law into coercion takes three forms... the leader principle; the state of exception; and the zone of statelessness."
snyder.substack.com/p/state-terror

I thought I'd put the administration's proposed "compact" with universities in context, so I wrote the blog post below.

It's especially for journalists covering this story!

Many details about how the compact itself works and why the administration has retreated to this strategy.

The H1-B Worker Visa and Me The immigration pathway that brought me into America is now effectively closed, with a legally-dubious $100K fee added by the Trump administration.

Trump raised H1-B work visa fees to $100k pushing away talented immigrants who could’ve made the U.S. better. Instead, they will take their talent elsewhere.

As someone who came to America through an H1B, the pathway I entered through is now effectively closed.

YouTube video by Brad Lander for NYC Brad Lander: "I'll keep coming back to court, week after week"

Tonight, I'll go home and sleep in my bed. I have a lawyer, I'll get due process.

But Edgardo, whose arm was ripped from mine by ICE agents, has none of those things.

That's why I'll keep coming back to court, week after week, to make sure that people's rights are protected.

LAPD seems to have a policy of attacking demonstrators as a first resort, including with grenades and gas. That is exactly the opposite of smart policing strategy.

Whoa! Hats off to ABC News reporter Matt Gutman for keeping his cool yesterday.

This LAPD officer needs to be relieved of duty if he can’t handle an alleged “touch” without snapping.

Dissolving ACIP is an absolute mistake. We need accurate information—not fringe theories—guiding government recommendations on which vaccines to give which people.

What Tear Gas and Rubber Bullets Do to the Human Body So-called “less-lethal” weapons like those that have been used against demonstrators in Los Angeles can cause severe, lasting harm like nerve or brain damage or blindness. They can also kill.

relevant: www.wired.com/story/what-t...

If you're a Marine or other service member being mobilized to Los Angeles and you'd like to apply for conscientious objector status, call the GI Rights Hotline to get some guidance on your options:

1-877-447-4487

ACIP's entire membership dismissed Trusted source of vaccine guidance disrupted

A good piece on why RFK's purge of ACIP is a big problem for us all. open.substack.com/pub/caitlinr...

NIH Workers Demand Changes In New ‘Bethesda Declaration’ The public letter to NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya was signed by hundreds of agency personnel.

In the wake of the publication of The Bethesda Declaration, House Dems are demanding “an urgent hearing” with NIH Director Bhattacharya to “assess whether the NIH remains equipped to serve the American people and maintain its leadership in global biomedical research.”

We’ve updated our piece.

Nobody Expected the MAGA Inquisition But it’s here, and will destroy American science

"Everything points to an effort to effectively destroy U.S. science — not gradually as part of a long-term plan, but over the next year or two." paulkrugman.substack.com/p/nobody-exp...

As of June 1, nearly 25% of the people arrested by ICE in the interior and sent to detention had NO CRIMINAL RECORD.

Data from the last six years, including 1.5 years of Trump's first term, reveals how this is completely unprecedented. It also helps explain the growing backlash.

Nat Guard/DHS threw tear gas canisters and smoke grenades into the crowd. Protesters and media hit. Pellet rounds deployed. All to seemingly clear path for a convoy of DHS/Border Patrol vehicles. I got hit but fine after an eye rinse.

Hello. I live in Los Angeles. The president is lying.

CARLITOS! 🎾

This match is bonkers and I am living for it.

Video: Explainer, LA and Troop Activation All About Guard, Active Duty, Insurrection Act, and what the terms mean.

A video explaining the terms about federalization of the Guard, the difference between the Guard, Reserves, and Active Duty, and when the guard or active duty can engage in law enforcement. Hint: the guard as activated in Calif cannot.

adamkinzinger.substack.com/p/video-expl...

Trump’s first 100 days, seen through 5 lives: Grants terminated. Dreams crushed. Futures in the balance STAT spoke with people living through the historic disruptions threatening the future of biomedical research in the U.S. These are their stories

Compelling STAT Story with personal stories from 5 individuals affected by NIH insanity

www.statnews.com/2025/04/25/t...

a cartoon of a man holding a frying pan and a spoon with red alert written above him ALT: a cartoon of a man holding a frying pan and a spoon with red alert written above him

ATTENTION: NSF GRANT RECIPIENTS

We received a heads up from a trusted source that you should proactively download/print/screen shot any documentation on research.gov pertaining to your NSF awards, both those that are current and any that have closed in the last 5-6 years.

1/n

Day by day, how Trump is roiling science and health STAT is tracking, day by day, what's happened in the words of science and health during the first months of the Trump administration.

I made a timeline of all the actions in Trump's (almost) first 100 days that have upended science and health. It was staggering to me to see it all in one place, even though I reported on many on these events. www.statnews.com/2025/04/24/t...

Actually, flip the headline. It's really "How the Federal Government Became so Dependent on Universities."

These competitively awarded, peer reviewed research grants produce tremendous returns on investment. New tech, health, science that benefit all people & businesses in the USA & world.

a cartoon says hey everybody an old man 's talking while bart simpson looks on ALT: a cartoon says hey everybody an old man 's talking while bart simpson looks on

Bluetorial: My NIH grant got funded; The money is in the bank

What happens behind the scenes with NIH fund transfers

A beeswarm chart of canceled NIH grants showing the years into each project when the funding was pulled. Each dot represents a terminated grant and is colored by the number of publications associated with the project: none, one to four or five or more. The grants are separated into thee rows based on the award type (R01, U01, U54). RO1 research projects had the most terminations, which occurred at all stages of research, from the project onset to 7+ years in. Most grants were canceled short of the 4-5 year lifespan of a typical grant, and 40% of R01s had no publications at the time of termination. Projects that had been active for longer had more publications, suggesting that more findings are disseminated in the later stages of these grants.

In terminating hundreds of NIH grants, the Trump administration dumped years of investment down the drain. In my latest @opinion.bloomberg.com column, we analyzed the cancelled projects & talked to scientists to understand just how much the public loses out. It's a lot: tinyurl.com/bdey86su

Ok so yeah, this has quickly become the #1 misunderstanding about the canceled grants

the grants are not “subsidies” or “entitlements” to Harvard or Princeton or whatever

they aren’t going into universities’ endowments

they are competitive contracts won by these universities to do research

"From 2010 to 2019, NIH funding contributed to 354 out of 356 new drug approvals."

State Terror A brief guide for Americans

"the president defied a Supreme Court ruling to return a man mistakenly sent to a gulag... and spoke of sending Americans to foreign concentration camps.
This is the beginning of an American policy of state terror, and it has to be identified as such to be stopped"
snyder.substack.com/p/state-terror

Trump administration’s attack on university research accelerates With billions in grants put on hold, targeted universities will see research crippled.

Trump administration’s attack on university research accelerates arstechnica.com/science/2025...

USAID team fired while in Myanmar earthquake zone, ex-official says Three U.S. aid workers were laid off while in Myanmar helping the rescue and recovery from the country's massive earthquake, a former senior staffer said, as the Trump administration's dismantling of foreign aid affects its disaster response.

We are exploring new depths of national disgrace by the day. www.reuters.com/world/us/usa...

the arc of the universe is long, but it bends towards "it's one banana, michael. would could it cost, $10?"