Tara Van Ho

Heartbroken to hear about the passing of Catarina de Albuquerque. She was an incredible advocate & scholar. The world is a sadder place.

Favourites so far (in order of status after 1 listen through):
1. Ruin the Friendship
2. Cancelled
3. Fate of Ophelia

🧡 #TS12

The idea that Pete Hegseth has the competence to lecture that room of military brass on warrior ethos would be laughable if it were an SNL skit. As it is reality... it's not funny.

Every time I think about Trump speaking to 800 military brass, I'm reminded of when Saddam Hussein brought the Baath party together just to performatively arrest & kill people for "trason" -- based on a hoax he made up himself.

“It represents the most significant legal step yet by the Trump administration to harry, punish and humiliate a former official the president identified as an enemy, at the expense of procedural safeguards intended to shield the Justice Department from political interference and personal vendettas.”

Should this man be in any law enforcement position?

Now ask this: do you believe this man will face any consequences for this violent assault on an unarmed, emotionally distressed woman?

We can call in complaints to the DHS misconduct hotline: 1-800-323-8603

www.oig.dhs.gov/hotline

I was having a similar thought yesterday as I was reviewing the Supreme Court's racial profiling shadow docket order, which--like so many of the Court's orders, as @sifill.bsky.social has pointed out--just substitutes their own nonsense for all the diligent, real fact-finding the trial court did

Thinking today about the white woman I represented who was charged with something she didn't do. The cop testilied, and she freaked out saying that it was impossible for a cop to not tell the truth because that was illegal. When I told her that it happened all the time,

Tony Blair in discussions to run transitional Gaza authority The former prime minister has been in high-level planning talks over the territory's future, the BBC understands.

Horrific ideas for $1000, Alex.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Microsoft blocks Israel’s use of its technology in mass surveillance of Palestinians Exclusive: Tech firm ends military unit’s access to AI and data services after Guardian reveals secret spy project * Middle East crisis – live updates Microsoft has terminated the Israeli military’s access to technology it used to operate a powerful surveillance system that collected millions of Palestinian civilian phone calls made each day in Gaza and the West Bank, the Guardian can reveal. Microsoft told Israeli officials late last week that Unit 8200, the military’s elite spy agency, had violated the company’s terms of service by storing the vast trove of surveillance data in its Azure cloud platform, sources familiar with the situation said. Continue reading...

Microsoft blocks Israel’s use of its technology in mass surveillance of Palestinians

Pew Research looks the same:

An update from Chicago's local CBS station:

SNIPERS! ICE has snipers targeting protestors. WHAT THE HELL?
bsky.app/profile/cweb...

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON

This is in suburban Chicago. That woman is a congressional candidate. @katmabu.bsky.social And those weapons? COME ON. WHAT THE F*CK

WCK & WFP would be good.

Both the best & the funniest thing the Nobel Peace Prize committee could do is give the award to Stephen Colbert & Jimmy Kimmel as defenders of free speech under attack.

It *should* go to Gazan journalists, or perhaps soemone from the UAE doing negotiations, but also: Colbert & Kimmel, please.

Thanks Steve! So far, loving it here but rising fascism is ... worrying.

Fascists are never satisfied by just a little taste of fascism

New PEN America statement: “The firing and suspension of multiple journalists after the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk should alarm anyone who cares about free speech and a free press. Taken together, these measures risk creating a chilling effect that extends beyond those directly targeted..."

First Amendment Coronado-ism We are right now living through one of the most significant rollbacks in First Amendment law since the 1950s. To name a few examples: Univer...

We are no longer in the era of First Amendment Lochner-ism. We are in the era of First Amendment Coronado-ism -- where we see the hyperexpansive First Amendment protections that allegedly defined an era come to a screeching halt the minute they stand in the way of conservative policy priorities.

A threat to authoritarianism anywhere is a threat to authoritarianism everywhere

Shortest special issue ever but yes...

Yep! Did you see the metrics on the main article right now? Total win for sloppy scholarship. It's like when peole talk about how cited John Yoo is...

Then it gives the authors of said paper more space & airtime to continue to defend their problematic position & allowed the rehashing of problematic & unethical arguments in the face of an ongoing genocide. This is as a colleague & friend observes is an eg of epistemic injustice. Shame on LJIL 3/3

This is a truly terrible response to an already flawed paper & even more flawed editorial process, a microcosm of what is problematic about western academia. The reliance on fomalities is an exercise in what Tania Li termed 'rendering technical', the technocratic depoliticisation of events 1/3

"Hey, we realize we fucked up. We want to make it better so we're going to givethe autbors an additional 9 pages to reflect on the criticisms, and then we'll publish *one* article criticising the piece. That sounds like an amazing & valid plan, no?"

x.com/LJIL_Leiden/...

Wait until the GOP realizes how our deployed military vote... man, are they in for a surprise about mail-in ballots!

Since we're no longer deferring to agency expertise, is someone taking a case challenging to Covid vaccine limitations?

T swift just announced her engagement and I have to adult. Life is unfair.

If you're willing to share advice or a war story of mistakes & failure, can you drop a comment or a DM & also sign your comment with a descriptor fo who you are now, i.e. "- 47 y/o law professor"