John H Knox

The Trump Administration Is Ending Aid That It Says Saves Lives The State Department will let lifesaving projects expire because “there is no strong nexus between the humanitarian response and U.S. national interests,” according to an internal email.

Quietly, the Trump administration is now ending even the life-saving aid that they had promised would be preserved

Reporting from @hana-kiros.bsky.social

www.theatlantic.com/health/2026/...

1. Pointing out that the Iranian regime's actions are horrific does not in any way subtract from the horror of the Israeli government's genocide in Gaza, or from other atrocities. There are, unfortunately, plenty here who seem to believe we should be partisan in our denunciations. They are wrong. 🧵

I've thoroughly enjoyed writing the CPUS section over the past four years. Keeping a close eye on U.S. practice has never been more important. I'm not involved in the appointment, but I'd be happy to answer questions from those who might be interested in applying.

⚡⚖️ Continuation (and end) of historic #climatelitigation hearing at Paris Judicial Court this afternoon in historic case against TotalEnergies.
👀 🧵 Follow in thread below for blow-by-blow reporting in English.
🧵 🇫🇷 See also here in French via @notreaffaireatous.bsky.social: bsky.app/profile/notr...

The Constitution is not a bargaining chip for a budget negotiation The Democrats demanded that Trump's immigration cops follow the law and the Constitution. The Republicans called those demands "nonstarters."

New at The Watch:

The Democrats' demands to "reform" Trump's immigration thugs aren't reforms at all. They're already the law, the Constitution, and widely accepted police practices. And in a free society, they'd never be negotiable.

Mines, dams move in as protection slips in a Cambodian wildlife sanctuary In Sre Chhuk village, a quiet patch in northeast Cambodia where the Mekong’s smaller veins trace the edge of a fading wildlife sanctuary, Vorn Pang and Sao Thorn once believed their land was safe. By…

At least five companies have been granted mining concessions in a community protected area next to Cambodia’s Lumphat Wildlife Sanctuary.

Since 2021, marble extraction has cleared forests and carved pits — residents say they weren’t consulted or compensated.

😧🤯

What’s happening with the global treaty to trace critical minerals? The negotiations were intense, says Julia Peña Niño, the Colombia country manager at the Natural Resource Governance Institute. At the seventh U.N. Environment Assembly (UNEA-7) in Nairobi last…

Colombia is pushing for a binding global minerals treaty to tackle mining harms through supply-chain traceability.

But resistance at UNEA-7 watered the proposal down to a nonbinding resolution — leaving traceability out as NGOs and some states vow to keep fighting for stronger rules.

exactly. this is not difficult.

as.ft.com/r/58ed1b23-d...

74% of Democrats support abolishing ICE, with 53% *strongly* supporting it, according to YouGov polling from last month.

Weak calls for "reform" are coming from *elected* Democrats like Chuck, not the average Democratic voter.

This is now without question the biggest politico-financial scandal in United States history. Teapot Dome was trivial in comparison.

Peter Thiel has been open about this for a long time. Trump is a way to break the republic, which can then be replaced by “free economic zones” with oligarchs as dictators and tech as a taskmaster for helpless humans without any rights. (1/2)

I love the US. But if I were not American, I would not set foot in the US now.

As long as Stephen Miller is in power, the US cannot plausibly host international sporting events. (And all the *foreigners* they would bring.)

Harvard professor Steven Levitsky, who studies democracy backsliding, on Don Lemon's arrest:

“This is a new dimension. In democracies, journalists don't get arrested. In authoritarian regimes, journalists get arrested."

More in @status.news: www.status.news/p/don-lemon-...

graph tracking democratic backsliding is occuring more quickly in the US than elsewhere.

New from me: It is not just that the US is experiencing democratic backsliding. Authoritarianism has emerged more quickly than in other benchmark countries.

This graph from John Burn-Murdoch sums it up. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/autocracy-...

The arrests of journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort are a test for every MSM member with a platform. If you are not voicing your outrage at this blatant violation of the First Amendment, you are utterly discredited as a journalist.

It's amazing how this radical "step too far" is how every law enforcement officer in the country operated for our entire history.

UN Treaty on Business and Human Rights: new language is out, but some gaps persist States and non-State actors taking part in the negotiations of an international legally binding instrument to protect human rights from corporate (…)

UN #BindingTreaty on Business & Human Rights: the Chair's new textual proposals are out!

While there are some welcome clarifications, some persistent gaps risk leaving key issues such as access to justice, information & consent unaddressed.

Our comments: www.fidh.org/en/issues/bu...

And it's a wrap! Merit hearings in the landmark genocide case brought at the #ICJ by Gambia against Myanmar have concluded.

See my @hrw.org colleagues' reflections on the significance of this development in the Rohingya's long struggle for justice: www.hrw.org/news/2026/01...

YouTube video by NBC10 Philadelphia Philly DA vows to prosecute ‘wannabe Nazi' ICE agents who violate the law

"If we have to hunt you down, the way they hunted down Nazis for decades, we will find your identities. We will find you. We will achieve justice. And we will do so under the Constitution and laws of the United States."

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ft1...

The Netherlands violates human rights by failing to protect Bonaire residents from climate crisis: court - Greenpeace International In a world first, a Dutch court today ruled that the Netherlands breached the European Convention on Human Rights by not protecting and discriminating against citizens living in the Dutch-Caribbean sp...

🥳 VICTORY: In a landmark win for the people of Bonaire 🇧🇶, a Dutch court has ruled that the Netherlands’s current climate policy violates the rights of citizens of the island of Bonaire.

READ: www.greenpeace.org/internationa...

A 🧵👇

Important new climate decision: A court in The Hague ruled today that the Dutch government violated European Convention on Human Rights in failing to take sufficient action to protect the residents of Bonaire, an island off the coast of Venezuela that's a special municipality of the Netherlands. 🧵

Indígenas ocupam sede de empresa do agronegócio no PA | G1 Movimento denuncia riscos ambientais, ausência de licença e ameaça a sítios arqueológicos na região de Itaituba ao longo do rio Tapajós.

Indigenous ppl from 14 ethnic groups have been occupying the facilities of the Cargill company in Santarém since Fri in protest of a dredging tender and initiatives that, according to the movement, pave the way for the "privatization of the Tapajós River". g1.globo.com/pa/para/noti...

Poster - 1961 Freedom Riders Eric Etheridge, Joseph Portiglione SCW©2010 The Freedom Rides eventually encompassed a campaign that lasted seven months, involved over 400 African Americans and whites, and desegregated dozens of bus...

We have this poster up in our house and I look at it every day and it immediately comes to mind. The expression. syracuseculturalworkers.com/products/pos...

Scrolling through the photos of Pam Bondi's "Minnesota rioters," it's just hero after hero. Every photo includes a cowardly DHS agent with their back to the camera.

Bondi thinks she's going to win the propaganda war with this shit, but it's never been more clear that they're losing.

Bonaire climate ruling: Moment of truth for Dutch State’s failing climate policy - Greenpeace International The Hague – On January 28The District Court of The Hague will rule on January 28 whether the Netherland’s current climate policy is unlawful for failing to adequately protect the…

[Press Release] On January 28, the District Court of The Hague will rule on whether the Netherland’s current climate policy is unlawful for failing to protect the people of Bonaire - Caribbean island and Dutch special municipality - from climate crisis impacts.

www.greenpeace.org/internationa...

brass solidarity band performing “stand by me” in the streets of whittier next to alex pretti’s memorial. the crowd started chanting “the people united will never be defeated” so they incorporated it into the song. i love minneapolis

A little thread of some courageous people bsky.app/profile/nkal...

Uganda: Arbitrary arrest and pre-trial detention of eight environmental rights defenders New information UGA 006 / 0126 / OBS 065.1 Judicial harassment / Arbitrary detention Uganda 26 January 2026 The Observatory for the Protection (…)

🇺🇬 #Uganda: 8 environmental defenders opposing EACOP remain in arbitrary pre-trial detention after repeated court adjournments. The next hearing is scheduled on 12 February.

FIDH's Observatory urge their immediate release & an end to their judicial harassment.

www.fidh.org/en/issues/hu...

"There are no limits to the defiance of the United Nations & international law...After having been stormed and demolished by the Israeli authorities, the UNRWA Headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem has now been set on fire."

- UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini